The Zone of Interest

Rudolf (Christian Friedel) and Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) are raising their family right next to his place of work in a home surrounded by an expansive garden. The house maybe isn't quite as big as Hedwig would like but the garden is magnificent having been cultivated over just a few short years with the help of local gardeners.

Rudolf's work is stressful: he's a workaholic, occasionally meeting with suppliers and colleagues at the house but when he can he rides his horse and takes the children swimming in the nearby river.

Rudolf is the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

CW: the Holocaust done matter of fact, off screen but constantly within earshot

Jonathan Glazer fully commits to the banality of evil.

We see the Höss family going about their everyday life in a very naturalistic period dramatisation with next to no drama. Rudolf gets a promotion that means moving away while Hedwig wants to stay in the home they've built. Hedwig's mother visits and leaves unexpectedly leaving behind a note that angers Hedwig but which we never see. The children bicker. Rudolf reads to them at bedtime.

While the Holocaust is discussed it's very mundane. Logistics in a meeting. Discussions with a company that builds crematoriums. Redistribution of stolen possessions as "gifts" with Hedwig finding a lipstick in the pocket of a fur coat and trying it on. Things that are terrible in context but otherwise small everyday details.

Sometimes there's a brief, direct glimpse of something awful but the sounds are omnipresent. The entire thing is in the soundscape happening just the other side of the wall or in the skyline above it.

I'm not sure it's as important a depiction as many say, precisely because it's so understated. It's both its strength and its weakness but the sound design means it's 10/10.