Since first hearing about it, Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest” has been among the 2023 movies that has intrigued me most. This is Glazer’s first feature film since 2013’s “Under the Skin” and he couldn’t have picked heavier subject matter. “The Zone of Interest” is loosely based on a 2014 Martin Amis novel of the same name and concentrates on Rudolf Höss, the real-life first commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

But “The Zone of Interest” is no standard issue biography. Nor does it resemble any other Holocaust movie that came before it. Rather it’s a daringly precise and artfully calculated historical drama – one so quietly chilling that the true insidious nature of what we see may creep up on some viewers. But if you go into the film knowing what Glazer is doing, you’ll find yourself uncomfortably gripped from the very first scene until the sobering final frame.

You could almost call Rudolf Höss (played with a deafening restraint by Christian Friedel) an instrument in Glazer’s creative hand – a tool that allows the filmmaker to examine the Holocaust from a new yet equally horrifying angle. Shooting on location in Poland, Glazer brings a startling realism to his setting. Yet he never forces us to witness a single atrocity. But their reality is felt in every scene. And what he hides from our sight is always within earshot. It’s enough to appall and disgust any person with a conscience. Yet we see nothing resembling compunction from the blind purveyors of such hate and cruelty. And that is what makes the film so unnerving.

From 1940 to 1943 Rudolf Höss and his family lived comfortably in a cozy villa adjacent to the notorious Auschwitz death camp. There they built their ideal life, all while tuning out the piercing sounds of torment and death from just over the tall concrete wall. The entirety of Glazer’s film focuses on this family, illustrating what philosopher and political thinker Hannah Arendt famously called “the banality of evil”.

Despite being only a few steps away from the Holocaust’s deadliest extermination camp, Rudolf and his wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) live in a self-contained bubble of domestic bliss. We watch as they have picnics with their five young children, host garden parties, tend to their many flowers – basically enjoying life’s simple pleasures without a worry or a care. Glazer shoots their around-the-house activities much like a still life painting, capturing them through strategically placed stationary cameras and emphasizing their unfathomable indifference.

Yet just next door the unspeakable is happening. Again, Glazer doesn’t show us directly but he relays it effectively. For example, we witness several displays of shocking callousness. Take Hedwig proudly modeling a fur coat in front of her bedroom mirror, turning from side to side as if in a boutique. While not explicitly spelled out, the coat clearly came from a prisoner in the camp. Yet she poses on her imaginary runway without a hint of guilt or recognition. Or how about the casual way Rudolf comes home in the evening, like a businessman returning from his office after a day’s work.

But what’s even more impactful and unsettling than anything we see is found in what we hear. Harrowing sounds echo from beyond the wall – the dull yet persistent roar of furnaces, the distant whistle of a train, the random pops of gunfire, the faint screams of the victims. Yet the Höss family carry on their everyday lives, never pausing for a moment from their comforts. They only seem to notice when something interferes with their pleasures. Sound plays an essential and powerful role in Glazer’s approach.

And then there’s Sandra Hüller. What a year she has had. She was staggering in “Anatomy of a Fall” and she’s equally brilliant here. Hüller gives a fearless and nuanced performance that teases innocence by ignorance early on. But later that facade is shattered by some revealing jolts of reality. Such as when Hedwig venomously scolds a Jewish housekeeper over spilled water. “I could have my husband spread your ashes,” she spews without a moment’s hesitation.

“The Zone of Interest” offers little in terms of plot nor does it feature some deep involving narrative. You won’t find an ounce of empathy, remorse, or repentance. Rather Glazer shows remarkable restraint in staying true to his vision. Even without explicitly depicting the violence, his savvy anti-drama can be difficult to watch. But it’s a vital movie and a landmark achievement both in filmmaking and as a historical reflection. Don’t miss it.

VERDICT – 5 STARS