‘The Zone of Interest’:” Auschwitz-Birkenau’s Idyllic Suburbia

‘I don’t think we really need another film about the Holocaust, do we?” says Kate Winslet, appearing as a fictional version of herself in Ricky Gervais’s 2005 comedy series, Extras. The fictional Winslet adds crassly that she’s only performing a role in a Holocaust movie because it’s “guaranteed an Oscar.” There’s obviously something to that. Think Sophie’s Choice (1982), Schindler’s List (1993), Life is Beautiful (1997), The Pianist (2002), The Reader (2008) — for which, amusingly, Kate Winslet won best actress — Jojo Rabbit (2019). And now The Zone of Interest (2023), which has received five Oscar nominations.

Jonathan Glazer’s movie, for which he wrote the screenplay and directed, is inspired by a Martin Amis novel by the same name. It’s a portrait of the personal lives of Auschwitz-Birkenau commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his family, who enjoyed a wealthy, suburban life in the idyllic Polish countryside, with the most notorious Nazi concentration camp in their backyard.

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Madeleine Kearns

Madeleine Kearns is a former staff writer at National Review.

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‘I don’t think we really need another film about the Holocaust, do we?” says Kate Winslet, appearing as a fictional version of herself in Ricky Gervais’s 2005 comedy series, Extras. The fictional Winslet adds crassly that she’s only performing a role in a Holocaust movie because it’s “guaranteed an Oscar.” There’s obviously something to that. Think Sophie’s Choice (1982), Schindler’s List (1993), Life is Beautiful (1997), The Pianist (2002), The Reader (2008) — for which, amusingly, Kate Winslet won best actress — Jojo Rabbit (2019). And now The Zone of Interest (2023), which has received five Oscar nominations.

Jonathan Glazer’s movie, for which he wrote the screenplay and directed, is inspired by a Martin Amis novel by the same name. It’s a portrait of the personal lives of Auschwitz-Birkenau commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his family, who enjoyed a wealthy, suburban life in the idyllic Polish countryside, with the most notorious Nazi concentration camp in their backyard.