The Zone of Interest is an impressive and exceptional war drama, unlike anything we have seen before. Director Jonathan Glazer (Under the Skin) shows the banality of evil and addresses the dangers of looking away. A merciless masterpiece" (Five Stars - BBC).
Genre: drama, history, war
Language: German, Polish, Yiddish, subtitles: English
Camp commander Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) lives with his family in a beautiful, spacious service house with a large garden, adjacent to the wall of Auschwitz. His wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller, Anatomy of a Fall) feels like she's living in paradise. In this environment, she creates a haven for her family, and she won't let it be taken away.
With its focus, for instance on the effects of looking away, the film is not just about what happened in history, but also creates food for thought about how we perceive and respond to what is going on in the world today. This film is loosely based on the book of the same name by Martin Amis.
This film is recommended by the Student Film Committee because it shows the horrors of WWII in a new and chilling light. It’s a haunting slow burner about the leader of the Auschwitz concentration camp, with an ending like no other.
Awards
The Zone of Interest won 55 awards and was nominated for 155 awards. Wins include Oscars for Best International Feature Film and Best Sound. The film also won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.
Reviews
“To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric”, Theodor Adorno famously wrote. Glazer’s film gives us the prosaic instead, refashioning it into the darkest, most vital sort of art it might be possible for us as a species to produce.” The Telegraph
“Hits with sledgehammer urgency.”The Times
“The film also accomplishes something more relevant to the present, forcing viewers to confront difficult questions about our own proximity to atrocity, and succeeding as a bracing reminder of how art can alert and sensitize us to the historical moment we inhabit.” The New York Times.
“The Zone of Interest Confronts the Act of Looking Away. Jonathan Glazer deliberately avoids the most familiar horrors of the Holocaust to show a further layer of inhumanity.”The new Republic
“It’s a work that forces you to reexamine how we’ve processed this chapter of history and restores a proper sense of ungraspable horror.” Rolling Stone
“An unblinking masterpiece.” ***** BBC
Ticket information
This film will be shown at Filmhuis De Zwarte Doos. Buying a ticket online in advance is mandatory if you want to attend this film. You can buy a ticket by clicking on the black “order” button on this page.
Please note: you can only buy a ticket online; tickets cannot be purchased with cash or bank card at the ticket counter.
For more general information about tickets, refund policies, etc., please click here.
Please be on time
The screening of the film starts at 19:30 sharp (no pre-film commercials) and the cinema hall opens at 19:10. We kindly ask you to be at the ticket counter at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the film. This is to ensure the film starts and ends on time.
The Studium Generale film program is selected in collaboration with the Student Film Committee and Natlab.