Movie Breakdown: The Zone Of Interest

Pre-Screening Stance:

It’s kind of wild to think that it’s been 10 years since the release of Jonathan Glazer’s last film, Under The Skin. In any case, he’s back and with him is The Zone Of Interest, which looks oh-so-heavy but I’m guessing it’s good since it’s already received a lot of acclaim and the UK submitted it as their entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the impending Academy Awards.

Post-Screening Ramble:

I don’t know if The Zone Of Interest is a movie that you can like. I’m fine with having experienced writer/director Jonathan Glazer’s artsy and exploratory look at a German family living just outside of a concentration camp that’s managed by their patriarch, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), but do I ever want to see it again? Not really. This is a meticulous film littered with long, uninterrupted, and fixed shots (feeling like surveillance footage) that present the bland day-to-day existence of the Höss family. It’s also full of scenes that casually showcase entirely unsettling things like a kid counting the gold teeth he’s collected, Rudolf’s coworkers presenting a more efficient crematorium for Auschwitz, someone trying on confiscated outfits, and so on. This all makes for a film that’s both monotonous and chilling, especially given that Glazer presents everything in such a removed way. It’s also this detached feel that left me wondering what the point here is supposed to be. Is it to double down on Hannah Arendt’s banality of evil? Or to let you ruminate on the horrors of such an existence? Something else? Whatever it may be, it eluded me and ultimately I found myself feeling hollow about the whole thing. Consider this one the peak of “your mileage may vary.”

The Zone Of Interest is in select theaters as of today, December 15, and then it will see a wider release in 2024.

One Last Thought:

Yeah, I got nothing.