A war film has been recognised as the “most important” of its genre, with fans and critics alike hailing it a “masterpiece”. Amazon Prime viewers will be happy to know that it is now available to stream on the platform.
The Zone of Interest is Jonathan Glazer’s exploration of Martin Amis’s book of the same name. It is a unique Nazi drama told from the perpetrator’s viewpoint. The story follows the commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, played by Christian Friedel, and his wife, Hedwig, played by Sandra Hüller, as they aim to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden located next to the concentration camp.
The chilling film features little dialogue, and its storytelling is praised for being told mainly through sound. The use of dispassionate mid and wide shots never shows the viewer beyond the wall that separates the garden from the concentration camp.
The Zone of Interest won two Oscars for Best International Feature and Best Sound.
It has received a near-perfect 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critics consensus reading: “Dispassionately examining the ordinary existence of people complicit in horrific crimes, The Zone of Interest forces us to take a cold look at the mundanity behind an unforgivable brutality.”
One critic said: “An uncompromising and chilling vision of evil unlike any other film about Nazism.”
Another critic wrote in their review: “The Zone of Interest is a brilliantly conceived, disturbingly disjointed film and it will stay with you long after it’s done.”
One audience reviewer said: “The Zone of Interest is an incredibly powerful film that stays in your head for a long time. It touches on the subject of the Holocaust in a subtle but very shocking way, showing the brutality of those times from the perspective of ordinary people. The film is slow, but that only enhances its atmosphere – there are no cheap effects here, everything is built on tension and emotions. The acting is top-notch, and the whole thing is really moving.”
On Reddit, one user created a thread titled “Why the Zone of Interest is a more important Second World War film than Oppenheimer”.
Another user commented on the thread: “I thought that this film was a masterpiece. I went in with no expectations and frankly thought it would be horrible. The best film of 2023 in my opinion.”
The Zone of Interest is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.