The Zone of Interests

I have just finished watching The Zone of Interests. It was an incredible movie, and the shots from today’s Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum struck me double hard because it immediately reminded me of my visit there ~20 years ago. The interior of gas chamber was as if I had seen it yesterday. Horrible.

Bravo to the sound engineers. Throughout the film the Höss family is constantly accompanied by echo and background noises, which they don’t notice: gunshots, screams, crying. Two sound effects which we usually try to eliminate in professional productions, are masterfully used to tell the true story of Oświęcim. No wonder the film received an Academy Award for the best sound.

Few movies have left me speechless at the end. Róża. Grave of Fireflies. Princess Mononoke. Now The Zone of Interests is one of them. Curiously, they’re all about war or post-war atrocities. Strange, isn’t it?