The Zone of Interest Review

I was surprised my theater got this. The only thing I knew about it before it arrived was that it was nominated for best picture. When we finally got it in, I learned what it was about and I got worried. I thought the movie was gonna ask us to sympathize with the Nazis because they felt really really bad about all the genocide. 

What's The Movie About?

The movie follows the director of Auschwitz and his family as they live next to the worst of the crimes against humanity ever committed.

What I Like.

The cinematography was slick. It had a very stark staging that leaves the audience detached from the characters and kind of reminded me of a Paranormal Activity movie. There were a couple sequences as well that looked neat because they inverted the colors. And they didn't ask me to sympathize with a Nazi, that's good.

What I Didn't Like.

NOTHING FUCKING HAPPENS IN THIS MOVIE. Seriously. It's pretty much just simple mundanity from back to front. It's supposed to show the detachment from reality all the characters have, specifically from Auschwitz, but you can do that in so much more entertaining ways. This movie is just following boring German small talk which could have a creepy double meaning to it, but the filmmakers do nothing to make the conversations interesting. Also, I kinda hate the production design. It might just be because of the time period, but both the parents have the dumbest haircuts ever and the house they lived in looked weirdly modern to me. There's some implications of horrible things happening but it barely distracts from the fact that the most dramatic thing that happens is the dad moves away for like a month. Also, I don't care about anything that happens to these people because they are unrepentant Nazis.

Final Summation.

Oh my god this movie is BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGG. If this wins best picture I'm taking it as a sign that the Academy is truly beyond help and needs to be excised from society with a red-hot knife. 

Y'know what would've been a really cool idea? If they made a typical family drama. Like imagine if it went typical all American (Well, German in this case) family. Dad's strict because his work stresses him out, Mom is caring but neglected, there's a teenager working through puberty, one precocious child and one mischievous one. The plot can be something about the Mom thinking the Dad is cheating on her (I mean, he is in the actual movie. I didn't mention it because it is random and doesn't connect to anything. And it's boring.) and is trying to catch him or maybe one of the kids is sneaking out at night and the parents try to figure out why. An obnoxious relative needs to stay over and the family has to deal. Just any average life plot that could be entertaining, and still keep the house next to Auschwitz and all the background details that entails. That would really drive the point home, and leave the audience with some complex feelings about characters if you get them invested in their struggles. That'd be a movie to win best picture.