The Zone of Interest

Main Plot

The Zone of Interest is set during World War II and revolves around the lives of a Nazi commandant and his family living in close proximity to Auschwitz. The film explores the stark contrast between their seemingly idyllic domestic life and the horrors occurring just beyond their garden wall. The commandant's wife is preoccupied with maintaining her home and family, while the realities of the concentration camp remain hidden from their daily existence. As the narrative unfolds, the juxtaposition of their mundane activities against the backdrop of unimaginable suffering raises profound questions about complicity, denial, and the moral implications of living in such proximity to atrocity. The film delves into themes of normalcy amidst chaos, highlighting the chilling disconnect between the characters' lives and the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Characters

• Christian Friedel plays Szmul, a Jewish Sonderkommando forced to assist Nazis in Auschwitz, grappling with moral dilemmas and survival amidst the horrors of genocide.
• Sandra Hüller plays Hannah Doll, the wife of the camp commandant, whose affair with an SS officer reveals the brutal realities of the Holocaust.
• Johann Karthaus is a Nazi SS officer overseeing Auschwitz's construction and operations, reflecting on the moral and ethical implications of his work throughout the narrative.

Ending Explained

In Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, the film’s conclusion starkly contrasts the mundane domestic life of the Höss family with the horrors occurring just beyond their garden wall at Auschwitz. As the central conflict—Rudolf Höss’s attempts to maintain a normal family life while overseeing mass extermination—reaches its end, the family’s fate is marked by chilling normalcy. Rudolf is promoted and transferred, leaving his wife Hedwig to continue her life in the house, clinging to her comforts and willful ignorance. The final act’s key beats include a jarring temporal shift, briefly transporting the audience to the present day, where the legacy of the Holocaust is remembered through the cleaning of a memorial. This moment underscores the enduring impact of the atrocities and the banality of evil embodied by the Höss family’s detachment. The film closes without catharsis or redemption, emphasizing the unresolved moral horror and the chilling persistence of ordinary life amid systematic brutality, leaving viewers with a haunting sense of complicity and historical continuity.