Zone of Interest

Saturday night, Sharon and I watched Zone of Interest. This was the last of the ten Best Picture nominees that we hadn't seen. At the 96th Academy Awards, it received five nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best International Feature, Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won Best International Feature and Best Sound.

The Zone of Interest is a historical drama film written and directed by Jonathan Glazer. The story is loosely based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Martin Amis; the novel is based partially on real events.

It stars Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller [Anatomy of a Fall] as Nazi commandant, Rudolf Höss, and his wife, Hedwig. They live with their family in a home in the "Zone of Interest" next to the Auschwitz concentration camp.

The film is in German with English subtitles. As I said when we watched Roma, I feel like I miss some of the nuances because I am focused on reading the subtitles. At times, it felt like the subtitles were moving very quickly. Additionally, some of the subtitles were on a light background that made it impossible to read them... Reading about the film afterwards, the description talked about a voiceover narration from a a Jewish prisoner that I don't remember seeing. I appreciate what the film was doing; it was a powerful premise. It just wasn't the best viewing experience.