The film ‘The Zone of Interest’ focuses on the life of concentration camp commander Rudolf Höß and his family, who lived in the immediate vicinity of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The film paints a vivid picture of the everyday life of this family, who lived in an idyllic house with a garden right next to the camp wall. The film paints an oppressive picture of the everyday life of this family, who lived in an idyllic house with a garden right next to the camp wall. Hedwig Höß, the commandant's wife, is proud of her garden, which she lovingly tends, and leads a seemingly normal family life, while the horror of the Holocaust is omnipresent in the background.
The film demonstrates the discrepancy between the family's idyllic existence and the horrific crimes that took place just behind the camp walls. While the children of the Höß family play carefree and Hedwig invites other officers' wives for coffee and cake, prisoners are being murdered and burned in the camp. In his role as commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Rudolf Höß is equally challenged with inspecting the camp, overseeing the operation of the crematoria and leading a family life characterised by terrifying normality.
The discrepancy between the family's perception and the reality of the camp becomes apparent when Hedwig's mother gradually realises the atrocities of the camp during a visit and finally flees the house. The film closes with a cut to the present, presenting the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, which preserves and documents the horrors of the past. ‘The Zone of Interest’ is an oppressive study that deals with the banality of evil and the frightening normality that is possible in the midst of the greatest horror.