I suspect for many, the rip-roaringly entertaining “Project Hail Mary” served as an introduction to German actress Sandra Hüller. And at the same time, a couple of her previous projects are resurfacing via the best streaming services. Last month, the Hüller-fronted legal thriller “Anatomy of a Fall” hit Netflix. This week, “The Zone of Interest,” a deeply unsettling war drama with Hüller in a supporting role, has been added to Prime Video’s movie library.
This historical drama, based on real WWII figures, is one of the most harrowing movies of the 21st century, and I believe it needs to be seen by as many people as possible. Don’t go in expecting crowd-pleasing entertainment a la “Project Hail Mary,” but if you can handle an intense exploration of humanity’s capability for cruelty, you won’t regret watching.
There’s a reason it was nominated for five Oscars, taking home two (Best International Film and Best Sound). It’s a supremely well-crafted flick from British director Jonathan Glazer, and it gives an uncomfortably personal insight into the lives of a German family who, at a glance, seem perfectly ordinary, but just over their garden wall stands a concentration camp.
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What is ‘The Zone of Interest’ about?
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In 1943, Hedwig Höss (Sandra Hüller) is a dedicated mother, wife and homemaker living in a seemingly idyllic setting with her five children. Hedwig spends the days raising the kids, while her husband, Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), works hard to keep their picture-perfect lifestyle intact.
But this is not an ordinary family. Rudolf is the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, one of the most notorious sites of the Holocaust during World War II. Just over the wall of the Höss’ perfect home are the grounds in which millions of Jews people, and other groups deemed to be “undesirable,” were mass executed in an act of unthinkable cruelty.
“The Zone of Interest” explores the disconnect between the simple joys of raising a young family and participating in a stomach-turning campaign of murder. It exposes humanity’s capacity for cruelty, and warns of the dangers that come when acts of evil become banal.
You must stream ‘The Zone of Interest’ on Prime Video
It should be fairly self-evident, given its subject matter, but it cannot be overstated: “The Zone of Interest” is an incredibly difficult watch. I, of course, don’t mean it’s tough because it’s low-quality or poorly constructed, but rather because it’s oppressively bleak. Any movie about the Holocaust makes for tough viewing, but “The Zone of Interest” is especially challenging because our point of view isn’t the innocent victims’, but the perpetrators’.
The juxtaposition between scenes of Hedwig and her children enjoying sunny days playing in the garden and fishing in the nearby river, and the horrors occurring within earshot, is deeply unsettling. And earshot is the apt word. This isn’t a case of “out of sight, out of mind.” In several scenes of family bonding, the haunting camp noises are entirely audible. Glazer’s use of sound throughout the movie is masterful. No wonder it won a Best Sound Oscar.
Furthermore, Glaze isn’t afraid to get creative to make his point. A scene of blooming flowers transitions into a blood-red screen with soul-crushing screams played over the top. And often the camera is positioned as if viewers are spying on family moments, watching events unfold from a distance.
During the movie’s climax, which contrasts an opulent SS party with shots of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in the modern day, I genuinely felt a bit sick in my cinema seat. It’s a stark reminder that all the pain and suffering on screen is not the invention of a Hollywood screenwriter. The horrors of the Holocaust happened; real people endured such unimaginable torment in their final moments. If you’ve been to the historical site for yourself, which I have (and believe everybody should), this sequence is doubly impactful.
Naturally, pretty much every character on screen is a figure you will grow to detest, but that shouldn’t take away from the performances of Hüller and Friedel, who are both exceptional. Viewers looking for rich storytelling won’t necessarily find that here. “The Zone of Interest” is less of a two-hour narrative and more a presentation of a dark moment in history. It doesn’t seek to tell a story stuffed with twists and turns. Instead, the movie explores what happens when atrocities become mundane, when committing evil acts becomes entirely ordinary. That’s more frightening than the plot of any horror film.
“The Zone of Interest” might not make for easy streaming, and you need to be in the right headspace before watching, but it’s a movie that deserves your attention. Now that it’s on Prime Video, I hope more people see the film, because it has many important things to say. If you’re not quite sure you can stomach such a distressing watch, here’s what’s new on Prime Video in April.
Watch “The Zone of Interest” on Prime Video now
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