“The Zone of Interest”, interview with director Jonathan Glazer

In “The Zone of Interest“, based on Martin Amis’ novel, Jonathan Glazer delves into the life of Auschwitz camp commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, talking about Holocaust, and offering a portrayal of “familiarity of evil”, as well as “banality of evil” as Hannah Arendt said.

Winner of the Cannes Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize, five nominations at Efa 2023 (Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Actress for Sandra Hüller and Best Actor for Christian Friedel), the film, presented also at Rome Film Fest 2023, has been selected as the UK’s official entry for the 2024 Oscars in the Best International Feature category.

Don’t close your eyes to the suffering

“If we allow the suffering of others to be suffocated and hidden, then history is destined to repeat itself – Glazer said in Rome, thinking about the actual situation in the Middle East – The Holocaust passes through the film. We don’t see it, only with our mind’s eye, only with sounds and noises we imagine that suffering. I wanted to make this film intensely modern just because only in this way can that vicious cycle of violence be stopped. We cannot dissociate ourselves from that suffering like this family does, we must understand that it is something present and not so distant”.

A film also for young generation

“I hope young people see the film, they are the future. I know there are young people who saw it and had a reaction emotionally. They need to know what happened behind that wall. It is not difficult to perceive human suffering”, director added.

Not monster, but human beings

During the nine-year making of the film, Glazer thought about who these people were: “Like us – answered – They wanted a nice home, healthy and strong children. They weren’t monsters, even though I thought they were. They were human beings, like us, and they committed atrocities that we could do too”.

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