A British-Polish film; A story about the commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, Rudolf Höss, and his wife, Hedwig, who strive to build a dream life for their family. A film set at the edge between the effects of genocidal German government policy and a bucolic German quotidian home life. The title refers to Interessengebiet, which the Nazis used to euphemistically name the restricted zone around Auschwitz. The film is an adaptation of Martin Amis's novel. The director conducted painstaking research into the family and used archival evidence and personal testimonies which made his depiction of Nazism all the more studied and precise. The formalist elements like staging and cinematography are vital for the substance of the film as well as for evocative power because the film has a formal tone. The controlling idea or theme was not to understand the horrific crime but to show ardour for an idyll by people complicit but uninterested in suffering; it was not about their ignorance but perhaps "conscious approval based on racist and nationalist delusion." But there is little development in the permanent horror beyond the first 45 minutes, with a glimmer of hope and humanity from the scenes shown in the inverse. Occasional aberrant behaviour in some of the minor characters is another break in the tone, but this produces further tension. The director aims for an unassailable horror, that which quietly creeps up on us but is unshown, and it is effective, but after that and the details of the crimes, the audience begs an answer to the question of how Höss, a World War I soldier, could become Auschwitz-Höß, which is left unanswered. A switch in location to Oranienburg could have suggested a segue to the question, but nothing turned up. The coda sequence in a modern-day setting felt like an adjunct, even if it absolved the director of any perceived flippancy. Nevertheless, it is a triumph of tonal and visual storytelling. The performances are excellent. The soundscape and sound effects are brilliant and startling.
Review of The Zone of Interest
