Film
The Zone of Interest (12A)
Dir. Jonathan Glazer, UK/US/Poland, 2023, 106 mins. In German and Polish with English subtitles. Cast. Sandra Huller, Christian Friedel.
Rudolf, Hedwig and their family live the perfect suburban dream with their beautifully ordered house and garden. But audible from behind the wall are the sounds of mechanised death, for Rudolf Höss is the commandant of Auschwitz. Jonathan Glazer (Birth, Under the Skin) offers his most ambitious film yet, displacing the usual tropes of the Holocaust drama to depict the pampered life of executioners inhabiting the bubble of bourgeois denial, keeping the reality of genocide hermetically sealed on the outside. It’s a film that asks us to reckon with history, with human nature and, in today’s world with the drumbeat of fascism rising again. Call it a caution.
Content warning: Contains distressing concepts.
For detailed information about the film's age rating and content notices, you can visit the BBFC website and search the film title, then scroll down to the “Content Advice” section: www.bbfc.co.uk
Rudolf, Hedwig and their family live the perfect suburban dream with their beautifully ordered house and garden. But audible from behind the wall are the sounds of mechanised death, for Rudolf Höss is the commandant of Auschwitz. Jonathan Glazer (Birth, Under the Skin) offers his most ambitious film yet, displacing the usual tropes of the Holocaust drama to depict the pampered life of executioners inhabiting the bubble of bourgeois denial, keeping the reality of genocide hermetically sealed on the outside. It’s a film that asks us to reckon with history, with human nature and, in today’s world with the drumbeat of fascism rising again. Call it a caution.
Content warning: Contains distressing concepts.
For detailed information about the film's age rating and content notices, you can visit the BBFC website and search the film title, then scroll down to the “Content Advice” section: www.bbfc.co.uk
