The Zone of Interest – Review, a study on the “human bubble”

Acclaimed at Cannes Film Festival 2023 and now candidate for 5 Oscar Awardsarrives in cinemas on February 22nd The Area of ​​Interest Of Jonathan Glazerdirector already known for Under the Skin And Sexy Beast – The last shot of the beastin addition to his numerous video clips.

The film is a film adaptation of the novel written by Martin Amis in 2014, and tells the story of Rudolf Höß (interpreted by Christian Friedel), commandant of the concentration camp of Auschwitz who lives with his family inside the so-called “Area of ​​Interest”, a small villa that extends right next to the Lager. The Höß they go about their daily lives between his work and taking care of his wife's garden (Sandra Hüller) and the children's games, purposely ignoring the horror that happens beyond the wall surrounding their house. The film doesn't look like an ordinary historical film, but it is a thorough investigation of the side paradoxical and absurd of the Nazi and human situation.

The power of sound

The viewer is not immediately catapulted into the reality of the concentration camp; what lies outside the German family bubble is revealed at times, little by little. A goal that is also achieved thanks to the use of sound, a very important element of the entire film product. The film begins with a few minutes of audio edited onto a black screen, an immersive sound created by Not Levi with voices, yell out And musicwhich immediately evokes the chills and restlessness of the story told. But the importance of listening continues for the entire duration of the film, in fact on several occasions sound is used to create a contrast Between poetic stillness of the images of the Höß e the evocation of pain human in the field.

A paradoxical symbolism

The noises of naturethen, emerge among all the others in a preponderant way, underlining his living and constant presence: it's a unharmed background framework from everything that happens. A humanized nature therefore, as well as animals, loved with great affection by all members of the family. Yet another contradiction, if you think about the hatred that Rudolf feels towards a people human, the Jewish one. There are many symbols within the film and the directorial style is an example of this: simple, precise and direct shots, which reflect the status quo of the protagonist and of his neatly traced life. A man constantly dressed in white, as if to cover his too dirty soul.

The voice of the off-screen

Every detail in the shots takes on great importance, revealing the influence of Kubrickian precision. There is an almost documentary style elthe camera remains distant, distancing the viewer from a possible empathetic involvement with the protagonists. A deliberate choice to remain “out” in many situations, that of telling something using most of the time the “overs“. This is an excellent decision, because, as they would say, “sometimes the unsaid is stronger than the said itself“. In fact, filming repeatedly stops just “before” – or resumes shortly after, creating a constant game of suspensions.

Fiction or Reality?

Everything is extremely realthe colors, the photography, the way the actors act, it seems to us as if we were spying on the story through a peephole and sequence shots guide us in zigzags among the stories of the protagonists. In some very specific moments takes hold Instead Glazer's symbolismand in the midst of photographic realism they come to life negative imageswhere the chiaroscuro is reversed.

Initially it seems like an expedient to narrate the nocturnal dreams of German girls, but later we realize that the style serves to describe real moments, stolen moments of life of the Jewish people, presented here in a symbolic way.

The Area of ​​Interest uses a past history as a pretext to actually provide us with an illustrative picture of very current human behaviour: indifference in the face of tragedies human and universal, the attitude to spend one's life inside a closed and protected sphere regardless of the rest, and the absurd man's egocentrism.

It is therefore a film in a certain sense very contemporary that at the same time commemorates a historical event of considerable importance. A curious masterpiece, where film art is put first, signed in a refined manner by the directorial pen of Jonathan Glazer: a product that really deserves to be seen.