The Zone Of Interest Film Review: Angle In View Of Family Life In Wartime

The Zone of Interest (A24/Klikfilm)

JAKARTA - The Zone of Interest has finally aired theatrically in Indonesia. After going shopping at various film festivals, this time film fans can watch this film produced by A24 in Indonesian cinemas.

Directed by Jonathan Glazer, this film is an adaptation of a novel of the same name by Martin Amis which was released in 2014. Klikfilm as a distributor revealed that this film also received a positive response during international broadcasts.

The Zone of Interest is even included in the list of the top films by the National Board of Review 2023. The film also won three wins at BAFTA and was nominated for the 2024 Academy Awards.

The Zone of Interest set in 1943 tells of Rudolf H\"oss (Christian Friedel), a commander at the Auschwitz camp living with his family. His wife, Hedwig (Sandra H\"uller) and their five children in a house next to the camp.

In their daily lives, H\"oss' wife and children spend time in their homes. The house has many facilities ranging from swimming, farming, to fishing. While outside the house, wars always occur where shots are heard.

One day, H\"oss sees the ashes of human burning near the river where he and his children swim. Then, he took his children out of the river and reprimanded them for their carelessness.

H\"oss' life in work got smoother when he was promoted to deputy inspector at the camp and assigned to move to Oranienburg, Berlin. He kept the news from Hedwig for a few days until when he told him, Hedwig asked H\"oss to ask his wife and children to stay at the house.

The Zone of Interest shows life in the midst of world war in various perspectives. Since the beginning of the film, its precise voice and visuals have been presented in extraordinary ways. With his voice alone made the audience imagine the war situation in that era.

On the other hand, this film also shows reality in H\"oss's life. At home, daily activities run normally, unlike behind walls at the same time, thousands of Jews end their lives drastically.

The Zone of Interest presents a story about the Nazis that is different from the previous films. This film does not clearly show the horror, but the visuals shown start from the puff of smoke that indicates the burning of people are being carried out.

This sad irony is presented through this film that has been running for almost two hours. As a result, mixed moments continued until credit rolled over.

The end of this film may have a lot of meaning, but this film proves Glazer managed to execute The Zone of Interest as a one of a kind dish.

The Zone of Interest film starts today, Wednesday, March 6 in Indonesian cinemas.