The Zone of Interest
Directed by Jonathan GlazerThe commandant of Auschwitz and his wife strive to build a dream life for their family in a house next to the camp.
- vangh1November 26, 2025I completely get what they're going for with this film. It's the cinematic equivalent of the quote, « It wasn’t Hitler or Himmler who deported me, beat me, killed my family. They were the milkman, the neighbor, the shoemaker, the doctor, who were given a uniform and believed to be the superior race. » Karel Stojka, Auschwitz survivor. And it's absolutely true, and it's an important message, especially with the political landscape that's coming to a boil again in 2025. And the movie expertly conveys the message, in the way that we don't ever witness anything overtly atrocious, and yet it's always pounding at the periphery. Through the sound design, and the deep background, and utilizing the viewer's real world knowledge, the horrors are unabating and pervasive, perhaps even more so for being folded behind the absolute mundane domesticity we're actually witnessing. But I just really struggle to appreciate the experience of watching Nazi's revel in and complain about their day-to-day lives for nearly two hours. I understand the message, but I don't think I understand it any deeper or more meaningfully for having been subjected to this experience. It was absolutely bad for my blood pressure, and the scene with the ring over blueprints had me genuinely physically ill. I know Nazis are regular people doing awful, soulless things, and the movie knows it, but it was a damn difficult watch for the run time. I think maybe I'll appreciate the artistry and the potential impact of the message with a little bit of distance from the experience itself.
- Morgan_815April 10, 2025,,the Zone of Interest” reveals the horror of human nature not trough violence,but silence. Beneath blooming gardens and warm sunlight,sunlight,unspeakable cruelty festers-ignored,unseen. Colors become a mask,softening the edge of atrocity. Against this emptiness, justice feels like a ghost-present,but powerless. Glazer show us that the darkest evil wears the calmest face.
- MrTrivetSeptember 15, 2025In The Zone of Interest, the horror does not come from what is seen, but from what is heard. Beyond the fence of the Höss family’s idyllic home, the machinery of death never sleeps - a system working tirelessly on its final product. Tragedy becomes the backdrop of the film’s events, coloring domestic affairs with the screams of people, the shots of rifles, the drone of industrial chimneys. It is a film about people who normalize evil, who grow accustomed to it, who are able to function in its presence without a shadow of doubt. The heavy, droning soundtrack seeps under the skull, amplifying tension in places where the image itself seems almost indifferent. With each scene, emotions shift into a growing unease, difficult to name - something between suffocation and dread.
- Kevin WardJuly 2, 2025Exceptional camera framing and sound design capture people going about their every day lives while some of the most horrific atrocities ever committed exist just beyond the frame, barely (but constantly) within audible range. Mowing lawns, swimming in pools, smelling flowers, celebrating birthdays, striving for promotions—all manners of the mundanities of human existence press forward while the soundtrack of absolute evil echoes in the distance. This film may be one note, but it is a powerful note that crescendo’s loudest in it’s final shots. The human ability to zone out the atrocities happening all around us is not unique to that time period or even to the nazi regime. Incredibly strong directorial vision from Jonathan Glazer.
- Rowan KrzysiakJanuary 6, 2025It seems a bit wrong to judge this as entertainment at all given the subject matter but, there was a lot of hoo-ha about it so I was kinda excited going in. That said, I personally found it a bit boring and was disappointed. I get it and get what it was doing and for some it's likely an emotional sucker punch, sadly for me it wasn't.
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The Zone of Interest Trivia
The Zone of Interest was released on December 14, 2023.
The Zone of Interest was directed by Jonathan Glazer.
The Zone of Interest has a runtime of 1h 44m.
The Zone of Interest was produced by James Wilson, Ewa Puszczyńska.
The commandant of Auschwitz and his wife strive to build a dream life for their family in a house next to the camp.
The key characters in The Zone of Interest are Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), Hedwig Höss (Sandra Hüller), Claus Höss (Johann Karthaus).
The Zone of Interest is rated PG-13.
The Zone of Interest is a Drama, History, War film.
The Zone of Interest has an audience rating of 7.9 out of 10.
The Zone of Interest had a budget of $15M.
The Zone of Interest has made $52.6M at the box office.