The Zone of Interest (2023)
The grass is always greener…next to Auschwitz.
Presentation:
What was life for the Nazi like at home? This experimental film has a fantastic premise of presenting the Holocaust from the Nazis point of view. By contrasting everyday life of this Aryan family with a perfectly detestable performance from Sandra Hüller. It would all see so routine and normal until you have unsettling fires, gunshots and distant screaming in the background. For this reason, it’s extremely important to watch this film with earphones or speakers with decent sub-bass or you’re going to be missing out on a lot of ambience. This is an audiovisual film, one could even call it a mood piece for its experimental implementation of drones. In line with the disturbing content, the visuals have this uncanny HDR rendering with just the slightest uncomfortable lensing and rigid framing. The avant garde use of infrared was also very cool. Thematically and visually the film it is executed well, but it is definitely an art house experience with not much narrative. A film where you focus on the noise, not the signal.
Conclusion:
The synopsis of the film sounds intriguing, right? But people will like the idea of this film more than the film itself. The thing is the intellectualism is actually worth it because the point is well made. But I don’t know if casual moviegoers will find 100 minutes of subtle noises and experimental commentary to be worth it. True evil is the acceptance of it.
Recommendations
The grass is always greener…next to Auschwitz.