r96sk
Not particularly my type of movie, with it being more 'artsy' than anything else, but I can still acknowledge it as being good. It's miles better, even for someone like me with the aforementioned, than it probably has any right to be. It...
Movie spotlight
The Zone of Interest
2023
Movie
105 min
English
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
Insights
IMDb7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes90%
Metacritic86/100
Google Users87%
Director: Jonathan Glazer•Genres: Drama, History, War
Plot Summary
The film presents a chilling domestic life of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and his family as they strive to create their idyllic life right beside the camp. The movie juxtaposes the mundane routines of family life with the horrific atrocities occurring just over the garden wall. It focuses on the banality of evil, showing how ordinary people can normalize and compartmentalize extreme violence.
Critical Reception
The Zone of Interest has been widely acclaimed by critics for its audacious and deeply unsettling approach to the Holocaust, praised for its unique perspective that focuses on the perpetrators' indifference rather than the victims' suffering. While some found its detachment difficult to engage with, the overwhelming consensus highlights its power as a haunting and thought-provoking cinematic experience that prompts deep reflection on complicity and dehumanization.
What Reviewers Say
A terrifyingly effective portrayal of banality and complicity.
Haunting and deeply disturbing, forcing viewers to confront uncomfortable truths.
Unconventional and highly impactful, shifting the perspective on Holocaust cinema.
Google audience: Google users praise the film for its unique and disturbing perspective on the Holocaust, highlighting its effectiveness in showing the perpetrators' detachment and the normalization of evil. Many found it thought-provoking and impactful, though some noted its challenging and unsettling nature.
Awards & Accolades
Won the Grand Prix at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Nominated for multiple Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Sound, winning for Best International Feature Film and Best Sound.
Fun Fact
Director Jonathan Glazer intentionally kept the sounds of the Auschwitz concentration camp (like gunshots, screams, and train whistles) prominent in the film's sound design, while the visuals focus on the idyllic domestic life of the Höss family, creating a stark and horrifying contrast.
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My Review
TMDB Reviews
10 reviews
rsanek
So much potential but very disappointing.
FilmRaj
A subtle horrific historic narrative of the Holocaust.
MovieGuys
The Zone of Interest takes the notion of the "banality of evil", back to its true origin, the family home. All human evil starts with a home. In this instance, the home of a concentration camp commander, Rudolf Höss, of Auschwitz and hi...
BornKnight
The Zone of Interest is a 2023 historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, that based herself on the life that Rudolf Höss, Nazi commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp f...
Cinema_Snobb
Even in the middle of a war, there are two world's that exist side by side. One of ever day life. Raising kids. Working a job. Gardening. Having lunch with friends. Yet...over the wall is horrors. Rudolf Hoss is a commandant at Aus...
Brent Marchant
Some movies just have to be seen, even if they make for a difficult watch, and writer-director Jonathan Glazer’s latest is one of those pictures. While this offering is at times a bit uneven, when it’s on, it’s on, leaving a powerfully inde...
CinemaSerf
Christian Friedel is quite effective in his portrayal of the Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss here. He and wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) offer us one of the most stark contradictions I think I've ever seen on screen. The beautifully manicured gard...
Manuel São Bento
FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://fandomwire.com/the-zone-of-interest-bfi-london-film-festival-review-one-of-the-most-important-films-of-our-time/ "The Zone of Interest is one of the most memorable, remarkable films of the last few year...
Lachlan Thiele
<b>INT. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS - NIGHT</b> Auschwitz is the location of the world's most unforgivable crime — where humanity lost itself. An area forever marked with the horrors of xenophobia and a story that filmmakers continuously atte...
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