Yonsei News

[Cinema/Film/Movie] Icy Horror of the Holocaust November 26, 2024

Baek Moon-Im, Professor of Korean Language and Literature

“I strongly recommend watching The Zone of Interest in a theater equipped with excellent sound systems,” said a colleague, adding, “Since you’re working at Yonsei University, you might consider the nearby *** Cinema.” Heeding this advice, I ventured to Yeonhui-dong on a Sunday in June to attend the screening of the documentary Of Land and Bread (dir. Ehab Tarabieh, 2019) at the 2nd Women of War Film Festival(WoWFF). My schedule aligned perfectly: leaving my office, stopping by Yeonhui-dong, and then heading to Hongdae for the festival. I recall humming softly, unaware of the profound impact the two films I was about to watch would have on me.

The experience of watching the Holocaust-centered The Zone of Interest—recipient of accolades at Cannes and the Academy Awards—and Of Land and Bread, composed of footage captured by Palestinian civilians, was deeply jarring. Both films left me emotionally drained, forcing me to abandon my evening plans and return home. The Zone of Interest portrayed Hannah Arendt’s infamous “banality of evil” with a gut-wrenching perfection, while the archival footage of Of Land and Bread exposed the camera not as a revolutionary tool but as a desperate means of defense, offering harrowing depictions of suffering. "Consider it a balance," my friends said, offering me words of comfort after I watched two films on the same day that seemed, at first glance, politically and aesthetically incompatible.

“I don’t want to watch another Holocaust film.”

This sentiment, voiced by colleagues, reflects the complex emotions surrounding decades of critical discourse on the Holocaust within philosophy, aesthetics, and cultural theory. Yet, I strongly recommend both The Zone of Interest and Of Land and Bread. The latter immerses viewers in the choking violence of its setting, evoking cries and sobs, while the former delivers an icy horror born of decades of testimonies and disclosures. Just as one hopes for the daily survival of the Palestinians holding the camera in Of Land and Bread, The Zone of Interest forces us to confront what our mundane lives coexist with, creating an equally unforgettable experience.

Based on true events, The Zone of Interest centers on Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family. The film depicts their idyllic life in a picturesque house separated by a single wall from the infamous concentration camp. For Höss’s wife Hedwig, whose mother worked as a domestic servant for a Jewish family, this life—enjoying luxuries and cosmetics left behind by Jewish victims—represents the fulfillment of her “dreams since the age of 17.” Despite the daily plumes of red smoke rising from the crematorium, she seems oblivious, focusing instead on her garden and home. Meanwhile, Höss, deeply engrossed in designing more efficient systems for mass extermination, comes across as a workaholic father with a penchant for animals. This disturbing juxtaposition of the Höss family’s utopian existence against the routine atrocities of Auschwitz is the foundation of The Zone of Interest.

The film clings persistently, haunting those who carry on their daily lives while dulling their senses to the suffering of others. While one might avert their gaze from the horrors beyond the wall, as the director meticulously crafted, it is impossible to live without hearing or smelling them. Hedwig’s mother, startled by the sight and stench of the crematorium’s red flames, recoils in horror. Beyond the wall, the sounds of death—such as the father’s voice commanding, “Throw them into the river”—echo, and Höss’s children mimic these orders in their play. Hedwig’s daughter, sleepwalking and murmuring “Distribute the sugar,” feels like the most unconscious yet active resistance against the violence etched into their daily lives.

Even Colonel Höss, who seems unfazed as he moves between the camp and his home, is bewildered by sudden bouts of nausea. Just as a family’s harmonious swimming can be disrupted at any time by waste from the crematorium, our so-called “everyday life” is, in truth, an amusement park precariously erected atop immense violence. By confronting us with this unsettling reality, the film transcends and overwhelms the conventions of typical Holocaust "genre films."

It may not be an easy endeavor, but if one were to watch this film a second time, beyond the heavenly façade of the commandant’s residence, the plumes of smoke from the crematorium, and the widely acclaimed sound design, something else might come into focus: the notion of the "Zone of Interest"—that is, the structural exploitation enabled by the Holocaust, in which many things were acquired without cost. The camp officials’ families divided possessions left by Jewish victims, ranging from luxurious items like fur coats and diamonds to everyday goods like dresses and curtains. They even treated remnants of Jewish bodies, such as teeth, as toys. Meanwhile, Jewish laborers, portrayed silently but persistently as part of the mise-en-scène, form the backbone of the camp's operations.

This material cycle invites the unsettling question: Was the essence of the Holocaust not about the "extermination" (via cremation) of the Jews but their exploitation? No matter how efficient the cremation systems became, the Höss family’s very way of life depended on continuous exploitation—an inescapable dynamic that led to "contact." The colonel's obsessive cleanliness and Hedwig’s hysteria seem to manifest as immune responses to this unavoidable proximity.

To conclude, I share the acceptance speech delivered by Jonathan Glazer, the British-Jewish director of The Zone of Interest (widely recognized for his 2014 film Under the Skin), at the Academy Awards:

“All our choices were made to reflect and confront us in the present — not to say, ‘Look what they did then,’ rather, ‘Look what we do now.’ Our film shows where dehumanization leads, at its worst. It shaped all of our past and present. Right now we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation, which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of October the 7th in Israel or the ongoing attack on Gaza, all the victims of this dehumanization, how do we resist?”

The Zone of Interest, 2023

Directed by: Jonathan Glazer

Starring: Sandra Hüller, Christian Friedel

Awards: 96th Acedemy Awards (Best Sound, Best International Film), 77th British Academy Film Awards (Outstanding British Film, Best Sound, Best Film Not in the English Language), 44th London Critics’ Circle Awards (Film of the Year, Director of the Year, Technical Achievement of the Year), National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA (Best Director), 35th Palm Springs International Film Festival (Best International Screenplay)… etc

Visit the original article in Korean: 연세소식

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