The Zone of Interest
2023 · Directed by Jonathan Glazer
Original language: English
- drama
- history
- war
The story
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.
What it’s like
Fixed, static long takes of a suburban garden and a tidy house in flat, bright daylight, with muted greens, greys and the warm amber of kitchen lamps at night. The camera stays at a cool, observational distance, often framed through windows or across lawns, and the sound design does the real work: a constant low industrial hum, distant shouting, gunfire and the crack of the cremation chimneys blurred into the ordinary sounds of a family's day, with almost no score. The vibe is clinical, sun-bleached unease, a domestic calm pressed against something unbearable. Pacing is slow and deliberately unhurried, built on routine and small domestic detail, and the emotional register is cold and withholding rather than tearful. Violence is never shown on screen; its presence comes through sound, light glowing on the horizon, and what the characters choose not to see, so intensity is low in image but deeply disturbing in implication. It suits a serious, attentive viewing alone rather than background watching, and it is for viewers drawn to historical drama who want restraint, moral discomfort and an unflinching study of complicity.
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