Probably a bit late to the party, but yesterday night we watched The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer's 2023 #Film regarding Auschwitz commandant Rudolph Höss' private family life in his villa next to the camp.
I think this one will go down as one of the most haunting depictions of the cold and exact psyche of the mass murder committed by the Nazis. The horrors are not to be seen and yet, they're omnipresent; through the ambient sound which carries away train arrivals, machine roars and human cries.
The film does an excellent job to illustrate the physical, optical and mental disassociation attempted by the Höss family only to dismantle it later on. Luscious gardens keep the odour away, vines hide the camp walls, pool parties and pic nics establish a sense of normalcy. Camera work intensifies this split by shifting abruptly between shots where the villa's surrounding environment vanishes or dilutes it within-the-house sequences, where the claustrophobic and inquisitive sense resembles what this establishment tries to keep at distance.
The film hits you to the stomach. And yet, no lessons learnt, genocide happened again.
#Cinemastodon #FilmRecommendation #MovieRecommendations