Area of Interest (Film)

Released in 2023, *The Zone of Interest* (original title: *The Zone of Interest*) is a historical drama film directed by Jonathan Glazer and adapted from Martin Amis’s novel of the same name. The film explores the Holocaust by focusing on the ordinary, everyday lives of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, and his family, who reside in a house adjacent to the camp walls.

Plot

The film unfolds in the home of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), and their five children, where they have built what appears to be a dreamlike existence. The family celebrates birthdays in their garden, swims in their pool, has picnics by the river, and is preoccupied with the mundane concerns of daily life. Yet, just behind this pastoral family tableau, on the other side of the wall, one of history’s greatest tragedies is unfolding.

*The Zone of Interest* does not depict the horrors of the Holocaust directly. Instead, it conveys them through sounds: the distant gunfire, screams, orders, and industrial noise of the crematoria emanating from just beyond the wall. The family’s complete normalization of these sounds and their deliberate disregard for them create the film’s unsettling and cold atmosphere. The narrative lays bare how a family could sustain a “normal” life alongside an unimaginable evil.

Theme

The film’s central theme is the “banality of evil,” a concept articulated by philosopher Hannah Arendt. It examines how a horrific act like genocide can be carried out not by monsters, but by ordinary people who fail to reflect on the consequences of their actions. Deliberate ignorance, denial, moral indifference, and complicity form the film’s foundational pillars. Sound is one of the most powerful elements in the film’s storytelling; the contrast between the horror heard and the banality seen leaves a profound impression on the viewer. It questions humanity’s capacity for darkness and how it can become desensitized to brutality.

Production and Filmmaking

Approximately ten years after his film *Under the Skin*, director Jonathan Glazer adapted Martin Amis’s novel in a freeform manner for the screen. The film’s shooting technique involved hidden cameras placed at various points inside a reconstructed version of the Höss family home near Auschwitz in Poland. This allowed the actors to perform naturally without the presence of a camera crew, contributing to the film’s observational narrative style.

The film’s atmospheric sound design, crafted by Johnnie Burn, conveys the violence that is never visually shown. The soundtrack, composed by Mica Levi, accompanies a film whose dialogue is primarily in German and Polish.

Characters and Cast

• Rudolf Höss – Christian Friedel: Commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp. Portrayed as a dedicated bureaucrat devoted to his family, who never questions the moral implications of his actions.
• Hedwig Höss – Sandra Hüller: Rudolf’s wife. A woman obsessed with her garden and the “ideal” family life she has constructed, taking pride in being known as the “Queen of Auschwitz.”
• The Höss Children: Children growing up in the shadow of evil, whose awareness of the atrocities occurring nearby remains ambiguous.

Awards and Nominations

Academy Awards (Oscars) (2024)

BAFTA Awards (2024)

Cannes Film Festival (2023)

Golden Globe Awards (2024)