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Review | The Zone of Interest movie review: Jonathan Glazer’s historical drama highlights Holocaust horrors in a profound, deeply unsettling masterpiece

  • Loosely adapted from a novel, The Zone of Interest details the domestic life of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and his family
  • Director Jonathan Glazer litters his film with searing imagery that is presented so matter-of-factly that its full horror is not immediately apparent

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Sandra Hüller in a still from The Zone of Interest (category IIA; German, Polish), directed by Jonathan Glazer. Christian Friedel co-stars.
James Marsh

5/5 stars

The horrors of the Holocaust are realised with chilling detachment in director Jonathan Glazer’s award-winning historical drama The Zone of Interest.

Detailing the domestic life of Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and his family, this British production, filmed in Poland with a largely German cast, won the Grand Prix at 2023’s Cannes Film Festival ahead of scooping three Baftas this past weekend.

The film now sits in pole position to take home the Academy Award for Best International Film on March 10.

Loosely adapted from the 2014 novel of the same name by Martin Amis, The Zone of Interest stars Christian Friedel as Höss, who in 1943 moved his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) and their five young children to Poland, where he oversaw operations at one of the most notorious prison camps in human history.

As he discusses the development and implementation of increasingly efficient methods of mass genocide, Hedwig luxuriates in her palatial new abode, complete with spacious gardens and neighbouring countryside.

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