The Zone of Interest directed by Jonathan Glazer and based on the novel by Martin Amis confronts the true nature of genocidal terror by telling the story of a Nazi commandant's family living adjacent to the Auswitz concentration camp during World War II. While my first thought, like many others was, “Why would I watch a movie about genocide focused on a Nazi family?” but upon exiting the theater it dawned upon me that this so-called banal depiction of tragedy is actually extremely relevant to modern dialogue on genocide and history. Through harrowing sound effects and purposeful cinematography, Glazer creates an impactful and eloquent production that is garnering the film's rightful acclaim.

Throughout the hundred and six minute feature film the visual focus is almost exclusively on the families picturesque home which includes their beautiful garden, swimming pool, and plentiful rooms to house the five children as well as the servants. However the peace of this imagery is cut through by the frequent background noise of death that escapes from over the walls of the neighboring concentration camp. Noises of men, women, and children screaming against the sound of gunshots and gas chambers being ignited were terrifying to hear, also making it difficult to watch the family go about their mundane days without feeling sick and horrified. This tactic of portraying the genocide as the family experienced it, and as we do today, amplified the striking message of complacency. Often, people do not see genocide with their eyes, it is only background noise to their day to day lives and their personal affairs take precedence over what may be occurring over their fence, or across a border. 

Crucially, the film also confronts being active in perpetrating evil as the father Rudolf Höss was a Nazi commandant. By placing him in ordinary household settings he is portrayed as human rather than a monster, not to have the audience empathize with him but to rather understand how intangible the evil he stood for is in comparison to us. Otherwise, the family is existing in silence which created a petrifying energy and exacerbated the effect of the disturbing noises in the film. 

The cinematography paired perfectly with the sound effects to cumulatively impart the idea that too many will normalize atrocities to keep their own lives going, especially in the face of universalities such as family. The film was shot mostly with still cameras capturing the natural movements of those within the home solidifying the normality of their lives even amongst acts of inhumane terror being perpetrated. Along with a few experimental scenes that featured a blinding white or disturbing red screen or figures in night vision, the film went above and beyond the expected. Furthermore, what I felt to be the paramount moment of the film that left me in utter shock was a scene of Höss that flashed forward to janitors upkeeping the Auschwitz museum, with a similar sense of monotony seen with the family. What is so deliberately confronted in the film is the fact that the atrocities of genocide fade away into the bladness of life even today. 

What happened in the Holocaust, can happen today and is happening today. 

This stomach-churning film has struck waves for being a relatively underground film, garnering attention and winning several awards from indie film festivals but also being nominated for mainstream accolades such as The Academy Awards and The Golden Globes. 

The Zone of Interest is undeniably a film that you need to see not only on account of its inclusion in award ceremonies but for the evocative and artistic approach to tackling such a tragedy as the Holocaust and confronting the audience on their own complacency in our modern world. This films perspective offers an insight into more than just the evil of the past but speaks to what our lives amount to and how passivity is a threat to humanity in and of itself.