The Zone of Interest

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⭐ 9.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

This is a little German indie film about a family in the 1940s. It's very day-in-the-life, and you get lots of long shots of the family playing the in lake or talking about their garden. There is a little drama when the husband gets a job transfer and has to leave his family, but it's okay because he does a good job and gets to come home. Oh, and one small detail - his job is running the Auschwitz concentration camp.

So yeah, that's the whole point of the movie. I keep seeing the heading "the banality of evil," basically a discussion on how we compartmentalize our lives and tuck away the evil things we do. The whole time the family is discussing gardens and promotions, you see billowing smoke in the background as hundreds of Jews are being incinerated. Sometimes you hear gunshots and shouting, but there is no violence or aggression. The workers don't even talk about killing, but simply efficiently getting "loads" through the gas chambers like they're washing machines. It was a very interesting experiment of a movie for sure.

So after, Jess (who didn't watch) was asking me, did I like the movie? Ummm... Kinda? She's like, well did you enjoy it? And no, definitely not. So if you care about enjoyment, this isn't the movie for you. But obviously I think this movie is amazing for different reasons. I haven't stopped thinking about it. This family is not portrayed as like, morally neutral or anything. We are supposed to be aghast at how they ignore atrocities. But it really makes me think about how people would perceive me. Enjoying my life while Palestinians are being eliminated, or even the fact that I live on a peaceful country farm where animals are being bred for systematic slaughter. I know these things don't seem extreme, but the way they casually talk about "the Hungarian project" at their work made me sick about how we are able to talk about evil.

So yeah, it's not a super pleasant movie, but definitely a smart, thought-provoking one that sticks to its messaging. Definitely feels like an important watch.

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