The Zone of Interest - English subtitled
Jonathan Glazer (Under The Skin) shows the banality of evil in this impressive war drama about a Nazi who lives with his family in a spacious dream house right next to Auschwitz. Winner of two Oscars, including Best International Feature Film, and the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes.
THE ZONE OF INTEREST centres on the domestic life of Hedwig and Rudolf Höss, beneficiaries of lebensraum, whose family home – nestled between train tracks and gas chambers – is spitting distance from Auschwitz, the infamous German concentration camp located in occupied Poland, where Rudolf serves as commandant.
Towards the final days of the Holocaust, Hedwig is fixated on self-preservation, while Rudolf is increasingly burdened by his duties. We reside inside the family’s encampment, with background voices of ghost-like prisoners muffled by the perpetrator’s quotidian musings. At one point, Hedwig and her atrocious friends joke about their new luxury goods, received from Canada – the nickname of the storage facilities where such items, after having been confiscated, were stored – at the demise of their former neighbours.
Shot on location, THE ZONE OF INTEREST weds banal and overt acts of evil with unforgettable reminders of resistance. Hauntingly scored by Mica Levi, this film will stay with you for a lifetime, for better or for worse. (source: www.tiff.net)