Title: The Zone of Interest
Year: 2023
Director: Jonathon Glazer
Country: Germany
Language: German
Jonathon Glazer's newest feature film, The Zone of Interest, is a confronting dissection of evil; a deconstruction of what participation in evil looks like. It's quite different from most pictures on this subject matter, because it doesn't allow its audience to distance themselves from the characters.
Many reviewers like talk about "the banality of evil", but The Zone of Interest is more about the sin of comfort. This is the main motivation of Rudolf Hoss and his wife. Their families' comfort drowns out the screams of those beyond their wall, just like our comfort drowns out those in Ukraine and Palestine. Our phones act as a barrier, removing ourselves from a harsh reality.
The Zone of Interest doesn't fetishize the time period the film takes place in. It's crisp, clean and digital; it looks like the events took place in present time. This is intentional, as it removes the feeling of "well this happened a long time ago." The sound design also makes a statement as it presents atrocity as ambience, We, like Rudolph and Hedwig, often hear violence but choose to ignore it as part of the background.
The Zone of Interest is a very smart film that utilizes its cinematography, sound design and editing in very innovative ways that add to the overall narrative. I was very impressed by this unsettling film.
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