With the 96th Academy Awards recently completed, box office hits, like Oppenheimer and Barbie, were among the most nominated films, the first winning 7 awards including best picture. However, there is one overlooked movie which has been nominated in five categories. The Zone of Interest was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May, but it only came out in theaters for a limited release between December (US) and February (UK, Poland and other countries). So, why has this lesser known film been nominated for some of the major Oscar awards?
The Zone of Interest is a co-produced film between the UK and Poland that takes place in Auschwitz during World War II. There are many war movies out there, especially about World War II. However, some of them stand out for being unique and this film is a part of that group. One of the main issues with war movies is that most of them focus on the war aspect and big action scenes without depicting believable and layered characters. Wars are created, fought, and ended by humans. The Zone of Interest understands this simple concept and takes advantage of it, creating a very unique character-focused cinematic experience that stands out in the huge sea of war movies.
Jonathan Glazer, who wrote and directed the historical drama, used a setting that any person who knows basic war history can instantly recognize. However, instead of focusing on the concentration camp itself, the film follows the family of the first commandant of Auschwitz, SS Rudolf Höss. He lives with his wife, Hedwig, and five children in a beautiful villa right by the side of the camp. The home was built by the imprisoned people at the camp and throughout the movie, they can be seen working constantly at the property in different roles, from housemaids to construction workers.
The truth is that The Zone of Interest is basically a horror movie. For most of the 106 minute runtime, it follows a slow, apparently normal, family life in a beautiful home. But it constantly reminds you of what is really happening using different strategies. Sometimes it’s the imprisoned workers, at other times it’s SS officials entering to talk about changes to the camp in a shockingly casual way, and periodically it’s simply background images or sounds. Auschwitz itself is never fully shown, but the sounds are there, the smoke is there, the officials are there, and the horrifying ideas are there. Glazer’s genius way of showing the terrors of the Holocaust in such a subtle way, constantly reminding viewers how much Nazi Party members didn’t care about the inhumane events taking place and could lead a good life among the chaos, is truly terrifying.
Sometimes, it seems like the movie humanizes Höss more than it should in order to make him a compelling character. But in the main scene in which the viewer might feel sympathy for him, the tone completely changes and it shows a scene filmed in the real modern Auschwitz memorial, reminding the viewers of how a single man’s smile can cost millions of unimaginably painful deaths.
The five Academy Awards categories the film was nominated for were: picture, director, adapted screenplay, international feature, and sound. At the recent cerimony, it took home the awards for “Best International Feature” and “Best Sound,” both rightfully deserved. The Zone of Interest is a masterpiece among the huge sea of war movies and manages to make the viewer reflect on many crucial topics concerning human nature and history. Although not perfect and being a slow film which does not appeal to everyone’s taste as a simpler movie would, it is one of those films that will be on every viewer’s mind for a while and definitely worth checking out.
