A haunting new film shows a family’s idyllic life next door to one of history’s greatest evils.
The trailer for the movie, which stars Germany’s Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller, showcases a World War II-era family going about their lives in Nazi-occupied Poland. Hedwig (Hüller) can be seen trying on clothes, throwing parties in her yard with her children and spending time with her husband, Rudolf. Their lives, however, are anything but ordinary: Rudolf Höss is the military officer in charge ofAuschwitz.
“The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp,” reads an official synopsis for the movie.
A24’s ‘The Zone of Interest’.A24/YouTube
A24/YouTube
The Zone of Interestmade its world premiere at theCannes Film Festivalin May, where it won the festival’s Grand Prix award. The film was also made England’s submission to theAcademy Awardsfor Best International Feature Film consideration in September.
The film makes for one of two major international films starring Hüller, 45, in competition for awards this year. She also stars inAnatomy of a Fall, which won Cannes' Palme d’Or, the festival’s top prize, in May.
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‘The Zone of Interest’ poster.Courtesy of A24
Courtesy of A24
The Zone of Interestdepicts the private and personal life of real-life Nazi officer Höss, who was appointed the commandant of Auschwitz in 1940, according to theJewish Virtual Library. Höss was tasked with converting the Nazi regime’s largest concentration camp into an extermination camp during World War II and lived with his family on the camp’s grounds.
Amis, who wrote the bookThe Zone of Interestis based on, wrote the novel as an “astonishing portrayal of life in ‘the zone of interest,’ or ‘kat zet’ — the Nazis’ euphemism for Auschwitz,” according to Penguin Random House’s synopsis of the novel.
The Zone of Interestis in theaters Dec. 15.
source: people.com
