Tracker Pixel for Entry

Garden of Evil: Jonathan Glazer Goes to ‘The Zone of Interest’

Cinema | December 18th, 2023

By Greg Carlson

gregcarlson1@gmail.com

Loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, Jonathan Glazer’s adaptation of “The Zone of Interest” makes a perfect visual companion to the great political thinker Hannah Arendt’s most quoted concept.

Introduced in her 1961 work for “The New Yorker” and then incorporated into the title of the 1963 book “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil,” Arendt’s argument that the Nazi bureaucrat fulfilled his duties without any deliberate sadism – but rather, a kind of disengagement – continues to ignite debate (for a solid primer see Thomas White’s concise essay for “Aeon”).

Glazer uses Rudolph Höss (Christian Friedel), the longest serving commandant of Auschwitz, to probe the kind of unremarkable and ordinary evil that threatens us again today.

Glazer, whose rigorous stylistic choices have frequently drawn favorable comparisons to Stanley Kubrick, spent years preparing the film, returning the fictionalized version of his central figure (as imagined by Amis) to the historical SS officer who would eventually hang in 1947 for his role as a mass murderer.

Glazer sought the support of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, accessing archival material that aided in the construction of a screenplay emphasizing the daily domestic routines of the Höss household overseen by Rudolph’s wife Hedwig (a chillingly effective Sandra Hüller).

Living in a neatly-kept house adjacent to the concentration camp, Rudolph and Hedwig raise their five children with the help of servants and the support of exploited prisoners. Glazer stages a series of scenes in which the members of the Höss family enjoy the leisure and comforts of their station. Swimming, sunbathing, gardening, playing, fishing, and celebrating birthdays mark the passage of time.

But any sense of comprehensive peace is shattered by the constant sounds of screams and gunshots coming from the other side of the wall that serves as a barrier between the Höss home and the machine-tooled workings of the death camp overseen by Rudolph.

“The Zone of Interest” sustains our sense of stricken fascination in part through Glazer’s use of hidden cameras placed throughout the set, a technique recalling the filmmaker’s memorable approach to capturing unrehearsed and unguarded moments of civilians whose curiosity brought them to the van piloted by Scarlett Johansson during “Under the Skin.”

Other elements, including scenes of a girl presented in the otherworldly glow of monochromatic, night-vision negative (which may for some call to mind the child in the red coat in “Schindler’s List”), intensify the experience as surely as the brilliant Mica Levi score.

Late in the film, Glazer makes a Kubrickian cut spanning decades of time to a series of sobering shots that link past and present in a way that should unnerve anyone who has recently tolerated the extremism of the far-right and the rhetoric of politicians and candidates who espouse nationalism and authoritarianism.

Glazer also includes a brief moment that rhymes with an eerily similar scene in “The Act of Killing” featuring another example of Arendt’s concept personified. Rudolph Höss, we notice, is an awful lot like the Indonesian death squad executioner Anwar Congo. We should all hope that we don’t resemble either man.

Recently in:

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comNorth Dakota communities will join a “nationwide day of defiance” against authoritarianism and President Donald Trump’s policies on Saturday, June 14. A range of "No Kings" events…

Back-to-school season is on the horizon, but there's still plenty of summer left. Check out our favorite August attractions and events in North Dakota and western Minnesota. And if if you missed them, here are a few excellent May…

June 21, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m.Fargo Theatre, 314 Broadway N., Fargo“We Watch Shudder,” Fargo’s favorite horror podcasters, bring on the darkness during the longest day of the year. The Darkest Day of Horror Film Festival features…

Fighting the good fightBy Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.com Over two thousand rallies took place nationwide June 14 as part of the “No Kings" protest. Ten of those protests were held in North Dakota, with thousands in attendance.…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comThe Fiddler on the roof was taking a big chance after two thousand years of hate Cal Thomas, who seems to hate a lot in a journalistic and broadcasting career where he expresses his conservative…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com The weather warmed up quickly here in the upper Midwest this spring, sparking prime eating season. This means burger battles, food trucks and lake-season food travel. The 2025 Downtown Fargo Burger…

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comThe Moorhead Public Library will offer three free, all-ages outdoor concerts featuring regional bands this summer. The series begins on June 12 with the Meat Rabbits, a group that blends…

By JD Provorsejdprovorse@gmail.comHorror movie fans of the valley, our time has come! Darkest Day of Horror Film Festival comes to the Fargo Theatre on Saturday, June 21. I sat down with JD Provorse, the creator and curator of DDHF…

By Raul Gomezraul@hpr1.com Minutes before Modern’s Celebration of Life opened its door at the Sons of Norway, I was fiddling with the bar computer, trying to pull up the playlists of Modern’s work I had set aside for the…

By Alicia Underlee Nelsonalicia@hpr1.comAct Up Theatre, in partnership with Minnesota State University Moorhead, will present “The Sound of Music” on June 10-14. All shows are at 7:30 p.m. at the Minnesota State Moorhead’s…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Ellie Liveranieli.liverani.ra@gmail.com There appear to be differences in the incidence of mental illnesses between men and women. For example, women are more likely to be diagnosed with depression, post-traumatic stress…

By Alicia Underlee NelsonProtests against President Trump’s policies and the cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are planned across North Dakota and western Minnesota Friday, April 4 and…

By Vern Thompsonvern.thompson.nd7@gmail.com Our trucking business has me driving almost daily from gas plants in western North Dakota's oil patch to Canada. I haul natural gas liquids (NGLs) products we used to see flared off at…