Ghosts in the Machine: The Zone of Interest

I didn’t really want to see TheZone of Interest. A movie set in the stately home of the Nazi overlord ofAuschwitz hardly seemed like a lot of fun. Still, the awards for this German-languagefilm—shot near the Polish burg where the events actually happened—keep oncoming. There are five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Britishfilmmaker Jonathan Glazer is up for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplayfor this project, to which he has devoted his life for the past decade.

 For me watching The Zoneof Interest was a matter of chance. I had a pass to see a new sciencefiction film set in Outer Space. But when I arrived at the theatre on a quietweekday night, all the seats to the special screening were taken. That left mewandering the multiplex, aware I could duck into any auditorium withoutcreating problems. And The Zone of Interest was starting in less thanfifteen minutes. The universe seemed to be telling me something.

 I guarantee I don’t want to re-watchThe Zone of Interest anytime soon. But that doesn’t take away from thedazzling filmmaking I saw on screen. Everything in the movie is meant tounsettle the viewer, from the ominous dark screen that lingers at the beginningto the eerie soundtrack, intended to remind us that on the other side of thegarden wall from the Hōss family’s comfy digs are the crematoria in whichthousands of Jews are daily being sent to their deaths. We never see thevictims, but it’s impossible to forget about them. Early in the film, Frau Hōssreceives a bundle from a local man. In it is a full-length fur coat that shetries on, admiring herself in a mirror. She digs a lipstick out of a coatpocket, checking that out too. It’s clear to us, though the words are neverquite spoken, that the coat was ripped off one of Auschwitz’s Jewish victims. Frau Hōss accepts it with equanimity,perfectly satisfied with the facts of her life: her children, her garden, hersubservient domestic staff, her husband with his snug Nazi uniform and tall,shiny boots.

 Husband Rudolf (an actualhistorical figure) seems at first glance nicer than his chilly wife. He doteson the five kids, for one thing, and loves fishing in the local river, until hecomes upon something ominous that we suspect is human remains. Otherwise he’sbusy playing politics with regard to his superiors, is seen counting a verylarge pile of cash, and (as is suggested in an eerie scene) has been having hisway with one of the local housemaids. Late in the film, he returns to Headquarters to be feted and given a higher position. At an elegant soiree in amagnificent ballroom, he climbs to the balcony and looks down on all thebeautiful people below. Then, in a late-night phone call, he tells his wifethat he fantasized about the effort it would take to gas them all, given thechallenges of the room’s high ceiling.

 That’s one way in which wesee the Nazi outlook shaping those who accept it. In a movie that alwaysremains low-key, we also watch one of the Hōss sons cheerily lock his littlebrother in the family greenhouse, enjoying the terror he’s creating. And thereare mystery moments when the ghosts of the dead seem to be walking. I was gladto leave this world and retreat to a nearby café   where FrankCapra’s delightful It Happened One Night was playing out on a blankwall. Phew!