The Zone of Interest

Though lacking the all-guns-blazing clashes, grenade explosions, and the odd soldier bleeding out on a muddy battlefield, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, 2023, still carries the emotional weight and horror of World War 2. That said, does the trailer accurately depict the story and essence of the film? The answer is yes; and in fact, pretty well. 

The Zone of Influence has two main trailers. I slightly prefer the second trailer (the first is basically a stripped back version), so that will be the focus of this review.

My main thought on the trailer is that it feels as though it's for a horror film. For one, the soundtrack is very spooky. It’s made up of broody synths and peppered with an eerie lonesome flute. For a war-centred film, it's very slow and menacing. If you close your eyes and let the trailer play, it feels as though some dark spirit is lurking in the shadows of an old town. Towards the latter third of the trailer, the synths start to pulsate whilst we go from scene to scene, further giving me the shivers. 

Compared to the film itself where the frightening and very realistic background sounds of tortured Holocaust victims play a pivotal role in anchoring the underlying despair of Auschwitz, the music in the trailer is pretty spot on. It effectively mirrors the nightmare of the concentration camps. I particularly liked how the music overpowers the initial dialogue, making the conversation seem unimportant and casual. If the music represents the persecution of the Jews in the concentration camp, then the symbolism here is stark.

It would have been interesting if the trailer had gone without music and with instead the film’s more true-to-life Holocaust sound effects. But, perhaps some things are better left to be discovered.

Again, the editing style and scene choice is all very horror-esque. It opens with a stretched out scene of Hedwig Höss (Sandra Hüller), wife of main character Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), showing another woman her very orderly garden. Hedwig candidly comments on its flowers, vegetables, and herbs. A very normal scene considering this is a film about World War 2. 

Things begin to get darker as the Höss children innocently read aloud a positive review of someone’s stay at their house, against the fearful soundtrack. As they do we see scenes of the mundaneness of family life mixed with the methodical operations of German SS. I think this is an accurate metaphor for the film.

Turning to how well it teases the plot is where things get a bit tricky. I think the trailer presents the film's characters fairly. However, The Zone of Interest story is very much a slow burn and a fly-on-the-wall account of a German concentration camp commandant’s family life. In isolation, not much happens. And that is true of the trailer. I didn’t find the trailer necessarily ‘entertaining’ so much as provocative. 

So, the trailer is technically sound, but does it actually make me want to watch the film? Yes again. It feels different to the norm, and perhaps more character-focused, which appeals to the freshness of the film. And, I’m all for a slow-burn if there’s an emotional payoff. I think compared to more traditional war films where the focus is big on heroism, morality, and key historical events, this trailer makes the film seem a lot more stoic. So yeah, points for being different. Also seeing that A24 logo in the corner gives it some merit. I will say, the trailer does give off a “you need to be in the mood to watch” vibe though.

Overall rating - 4/5