Ordinary Evil

Imagine Schindler’s List without the thin thread of hope. Imagine a Wes Anderson movie, visually, but replace the storybook whimsy with cold reality. Imagine the tale of a family “living the dream” while ash-spewing genocide is playing out, quite literally, in their backyard.  

This was a tough one, folks. A soul-crushing peek into the trials and tribulations of an SS officer, his darling wife, their newborn and two rambunctious boys, and the casual flippancy of living their privileged life with the Auschwitz concentration camp right on the other side of their barbed garden wall. There’s rarely a ten second span where you don’t hear the distant pop of a pistol, or some shouting, or the latter punctuated with the former. The night sky is tinged red with the light of furnace fires refracting through billowing smoke.  The gorgeous, picturesque landscape is blemished by a massive chimney as a constant reminder- thousands are being murdered and unceremoniously disposed of, and the engineers are always looking for a more efficient way to get it done. But it’s OK- you can still take your family out for a nice picnic and a relaxing dip in the river.

The Zone Of Interest is a brilliant bit of subversion that repeatedly reels you in with its subtlety, then knuckles you, hard, with its blatancy. I highly recommend it.  You will not have a good time.

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