Love and empathy are reserved for those who are closest to her as Sandra Hueller’s character Hedwig Hoess, wife of the commandant of Auschwitz prison camp, is able to completely distance herself from those she has been conditioned to look down upon.
The film begins with a visual pause during which we focus upon sound rather than image, a point made by director Jonathan Glazer that will become more and more relevant throughout the film. Pictures deceive, he seems to say, and what we hear, are secrets best kept out of view – in this film – behind a wall.
We first see the Hoess family at the lake, the children playing. Then it is time to leave, everyone gathers their things, and the automobile convoy heads home. It is the early1940s, Poland.
The family’s house is two-story with a generous garden filled with many beds of flowers and even a little square pool in its middle. All seems well managed by helping hands, girls from the village who do the work in the house and inmates from the work camp next door who labor in the garden.
Husband and wife and their children seem in harmony, except for an occasional fight. We learn that they come from farming and Hedwig’s dream is to return to this life once the war is over.
We see Hedwig go about her day, carrying her baby to the garden gate to say goodbye to papa as he goes to work, in polished boots and gray uniform, severely cropped hair. The insignia of the “SS” and their German language denotes the times, setting those in charge apart from those whom they govern. On horseback and among his men Commandant Hoess’ status is one of importance, he meets with engineers, discussing his plans to make extermination even more efficient.
The world of the men is presented separate from Hedwig’s world of women. In her domain she demonstrates equal efficiency as she obtains and parcels out (“I have my connections” she tells her husband when he asks about the origins of her birthday gift for him) garments to her staff and takes the most luxurious items like a mink coat for herself. In private, she methodically searches it for added treasures like jewelry or coins sewn into the seams presumably by its former owner. We see her tending her well-appointed garden of countless varieties of flowers, fruit and vegetables, letting her child take in the scents and accepting her mother’s admiration for her life in such luxury.
But, much is odd about this idyll. Visually, the wall to the neighboring property, the prison camp, has barbed wire at the top. However, this concrete barrier that Hedwig hopes her growing garden will soon hide, cannot stop the sounds from beyond it. One of her children, a little boy, playing with his toy soldiers listens with apprehension. The visiting grandmother seems more disturbed by the scents than the sounds, and cannot bear either for long.
At night, when the reddish glare of the chimney and the sky glow behind the tightly drawn curtains, and the accompanying roar cannot disguise what we know must be burning there, – like a dream – Thermal night-vision images show a girl gathering fruit which she deposits in the areas where the workers in the camp must pass. It is an ingenious way to show what, covertly, those brave enough to aid the people confined to the labor camp, do to help them.
The Zone of Interest is a slow burn that gets under your skin. Its message comes to us, disturbing and intense, unexpected, a garden of paradise with terrifying secrets, just beyond.
The film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Adapted Screenplay, Sound, and won Best International Film for this year’s Academy Awards on March 10, 2024.
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Sandra Huiler, Christian Friedel, Johann Karthaus, Luis Noah Witte
Directed and co-written by: Jonathan Glazer
Genre: Drama, History, War
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for thematic material, some suggestive material and smoking.
Running Time: 1 hr. 45 min.
Opening Date: April 5, 2024
Distributed by: A/24
Released in: Streaming on MAX
