The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.

Based loosely on Martin Amis 2014 novel of the same title, ‘The Zone of Interest’ is a chilling and unsettling movie that epitomises the famous ‘banality of evil’ quotation. It is directed by Jonathan Glazer, the not very prolific director in his fourth film and his first in ten years after 2014’s ‘Under the Skin’. Set at, but not in, the Auschwitz concentration camp, it tells the story of the Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller), who are building their dream home next to the death camp, unperturbed by the close proximity to the horrors unfolding beyond their garden wall.

Glazer’s approach is to follow Rudolf and Hedwig as they go about their day to day lives, with Hedwig having tea and gossiping with her circle of friends while her husband reviews plans to build more effective incinerators within the camp next door. It is shot in dispassionate, static shots, that allows the audience to observe the everyday lives of the Höss family – we see them swimming in the nearby river, celebrating birthdays and spending time playing in the garden – as glimpses are shown of the huge mechanical structures directly over the wall in the camp. There is never a moment where there are not horrific sounds coming from the camp itself, but the family appear oblivious to the screams and shouts and it has became background noise to them. The sound design and the unobtrusive score from Mica Levi are frankly incredible, horrifying and disturbing, but incredible.

‘The Zone of Interest’ is a purposefully uncomfortable watch, in how it draws us into the life of these people who have become completely desensitised to the horrors they are responsible for and complicit in – in some respects it makes us feel complicit too, and that is what makes it as effective as it is, particularly with a very clever artistic choice that I shan’t spoil. Coming away from the cinema I was struck by the cold inhumanity of the characters, Rudolf more overtly so, but Hedwig too, in her chilling indifference, with an early scene where she rifles through a Jewish woman’s coat particularly telling. Glazer never explains anything, choosing to show instead and leaving audiences to make their own judgements. In many respects, ‘The Zone of Interest’ is one of the finest modern examples of the power of the medium of film – no other format would be capable of leaving you feeling this way (and I include the novel this movie is loosely based on).

An often overused phrase, but I’ve no doubt ‘The Zone of Interest’ is a film that will stay with you and make you think, and while not a pleasant watch, it feels like a vital one.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Jonathan Glazer

Starring: Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Ralph Herforth, Daniel Holzberg, Sascha Maaz, Freya Kreutzkam and Imogen Kogge

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt7160372/