Movie Night- Zone of Interest

FROM OUR LOVELY INTERN: The Zone of Interest, directed by Jonathan Glazer and based on Martin Amis’s novel, explores extremism within Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. The film examines the lives of Rudolf Höss and his family, depicting them as ordinary people deeply entrenched in Nazi ideology. By contrasting their mundane domestic life with the horrors of Auschwitz, the film highlights how extremist views became normalized. Its minimalistic cinematography and understated soundtrack evoke a sense of detachment, reflecting the moral apathy that allowed such atrocities to occur. The film avoids passing judgment, instead challenging viewers to confront the ethical complexities of complicity. Overall, The Zone of Interest is a thought-provoking exploration of moral responsibility and the normalization of evil, urging introspection on the dangers of ideological extremism.

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Transcript

0:15

Welcome to movie night, a movie review series from the daily, former in each episode, we're taking movies that have some sort of link to the far, right. Either by depicting the movement by espousing the ideology, or maybe the far edge is like sees movies. And we want to call that out.

Samantha 0:30

today our discussion is on the zone of interest. with me, I have Jamie and Brad. I have a set of questions and then I have some categories. So I'll start with the questions first. What is your relationship to the movie? My relationship to the movie is I saw the movie anatomy of a fall, which was an Oscar contender. And I loved The wife in it. Her name is Sandra Huller, and I just looked it up and I listened to this movie podcast and they had said that she also played someone who is morally ambiguous in the zone of interest that the zone of interest was like a masterpiece. And so I watched it and I will leave it at that. I knew what it was about. I knew that it was about Rudolf Haas and his family, but I didn't know how it would be depicted. There are a lot of Holocaust films that. There's always something on screen and all I knew is that there was no actual violence on screen, so I was really curious to see how it would be handled or portrayed and I was pretty blown away. But you two, Jamie, what about you? What's your relationship to this movie?

Jamie 1:31

I had heard a little bit about it, just chatting with people, including yourself. So I had an idea going into what it was about and what to expect. No, I had not seen it before prior to watching it today.

Samantha 1:45

Yeah. For what it's worth listeners Jamie watched this movie this morning. He woke up and literally chose violence. Brad, what about you? What is your relationship?

Brad 1:55

Well, I hadn't seen the movie previous to watching it this time around small little morsel of information about me as I'm like a book and film buff of World War II, World War I a little bit of civil war stuff, and also any of the UK conflicts over The history of that, I'm very interested in those types of films, but this one specifically yeah, it definitely came across I watched the, I guess it would have been Oscars, and I saw a bunch of the feedback from that. show, whatever that show is and that, that didn't ever jive my mind on whether or not I should watch this movie or not. So, but definitely very interesting film.

Samantha 2:40

yeah. When do you think it says, what does this movie mean to the far right? If anything why is this film important? Do you think it explains what it's like in the far right? I think in some ways it really does explain what it's like in the far right. it's a movie the far right likes because it's a movie about the Holocaust and there's no violence on screen and no one ever talks about like death bodies or anything like that. They talk about numbers and efficiency and I think the far right wants to see itself as Business of efficiency it wants to see itself as like see like, this movie doesn't show any violence. We just talk about X, Y, and Z. And I think that in the warped mind of the far right that is a positive depiction of it, Do you think it helps explain what it's like in the inside and do you think the fire it likes it or would like it if they saw

Jamie 3:34

That's tough. I think they'll celebrate how efficient how calculated they were and how meticulous they were designing the new ovens and whatnot. I hate that word, but,

Samantha 3:45

it prematoriums we can say that

Jamie 3:47

There we go. Designing the most efficient way to, to get it done. I don't know. I think they'd celebrate that aspect. And I think they'd celebrate the lifestyle of the people.

Samantha 3:58

Oh, yeah,

Jamie 4:00

That live that sort of, that ideal Liebenstrom or whatever that word is that life prosperous life, lots of kids, it's clean the yard is beautiful, there's no problems they're not starving, they've got a massive lot. I think they'll celebrate that.

Samantha 4:17

That's reasonable. And Brad.

Brad 4:20

I'm gonna bring in an alternate opinion. I don't think the far right would like this movie because of the disconnection where there's empathy You know, at the end there,

Samantha 4:33

Oh yeah.

Brad 4:33

there's this business of showing What's really happened. because they hate seeing what the true outcomes are. No, don't show that, not that part, right? But I think early on and throughout the movie, there's also a dysfunction within the family. There's also problems within the family. Ideally it looks like it's a nice area, but I kept having this feeling of as a parent discussed of how could you have a home? Next door to killing factory. Like this is where you're bringing up your kids. It shows the inability for that, Uber storm fury or whatever the hell he wants to call himself to connect with the fact that you're bringing up your family next to the death that you're creating. that's the ideal father that you're creating for your family. Like that you're a mass murderer. and the female representation as the head of the household was, I don't know. She seemed like a bit of a sociopath, the way she was treating the people around the house, even her own family. It was very order driven, get back in the house, again, I don't think that's positive parenting. And to end off on my alternative opinion I don't think that the far right would like that it's showing breakdowns in the families and showing, there were some times there where there was like a lot of emotion shown and nothing, that kind of thing. And if you're going to be the real, you know, that type of family, you can't be showing your emotion like that. And even the lead actor, the man he showed emotion at different times. And I found that the scene where he was vomiting at the end that showed a lot too. So, if he was who he really was, would he really be doing that?

Samantha 6:23

so when I watched this movie, like I, I truly was just like, I had to like, sit. Quietly for a little bit and really think about it. And I looked that up cause I was like, Oh, did that mean that like, he really wasn't this person and blah, blah, blah. And so to tie in a few things that you were talking about and you're talking about, the kids, like you're really going to raise the kids there and stuff. It was also shown that people that were around. These concentration camps and all that stuff, they had really horrible lung damage from all the ashes and just the machinery and everything that was going on. So I really thought it was interesting that the film just had him throw up, had him sick. And you don't know if it's because it's his body rejecting this thing or if it's just like a, like an effect of what's happening. I thought that was really fascinating that it doesn't really answer any questions. It just lets you observe and decide what you want.

Brad 7:25

Mm I thought that the passiveness. Y y'all were saying about the the efficiency and the numbers. I thought they were pretty passive about that. And I think that's how the Nazis really were. Like, they didn't really give a shit that was 700, 000 lives. They were just tossing that in there and just,

Samantha 7:42

Yeah.

Brad 7:43

from there.

Samantha 7:44

before we get more into the scenes and stuff, because there's a lot that I want to talk about. The last two questions before we get into categories is who is this movie good for? And is this movie good in general? I think this movie is good for someone that, that wants to actually examine the ownership and accountability of what people do when something horrific is going on. Like, what is it really like for the normal person? And I don't know much about Haas before he became Commandant, I don't know much about his family or anything like that, but There is a world where he was just a regular German citizen who stepped up to what he thought was just going to be patriotic to his country. And this is what happened. Or in the beginning, he believed that they were making Germany great again, and this is where it ended up. And think it's good for someone that really wants to examine, not just the methods of killing, but just the mentality that was necessary to. allow something like that to happen and even more than allow it, encourage it, like be more efficient about it. That is wild to me. Is this movie good in general? I thought it was thought it was haunting. fact that it was understated and you never saw anything and you got to depict what you already know is going on. You've seen the photos. You know what the photos are. You know what was going on there. The fact that you had to while you were watching this little slice of life. Paradise. That was just on the other side of the fence. I thought was really brilliant. I really thought the movie was really good, obviously. But what about you guys?

Jamie 9:17

Well, that's a valid point when we've all seen the, the footage and we've all seen movies from that, what happens on the other wall. So showing the one side and then, hearing the sounds and whatnot in the background we know what's happened. So there's almost like your brain's focusing on the family and the family dynamics and what they're doing. But the other half of your brain is like, it's a mental mindfuck because literally what's happening. Right. A hundred feet away, you can hear the gunshots, you can hear, fires and all that. So it's just like, while you're trying to focus on the family and what they're going through in the back of your mind, there's a completely different picture of what we're all aware of. So yeah, it was decent the way they filmed it.

Brad 9:58

Yeah, I think that that darkness of that hum of the buildings in the background through the whole, like it was through the whole movie, pretty much I was just sitting there. I'm like, how does this family like, sit on their deck and have a barbecue or whatever, or, have a family event or do your gardening like they depicted so many times in the movie. it's like, yeah, I'm just doing some gardening here, man, I don't know. Yes. I thought the movie was very good overall and deserves wide acclaim for its able ability to depict the things that it did. I think it's good for for people to learn perhaps people that are maybe stuck in the movement right now and try to understand what you're actually. saying when you're saying those things, when you're trying to confirm those things in your head, maybe think about some of that stuff that, that actually went on and not those things you're trying to dismiss, like that family was doing. They were dismissing all of the real. Death that was going on and I don't know sometimes it's good for us to stop and think about what's happened when we think about those things in modern times we think about the Indigenous people and the things and the bodies they were finding and all that kind of stuff but this puts that into perspective for just your like you were saying, like, this is just an average guy, probably who just joined the, German army, or I don't know, but this is what it led to, and these things can, and unfortunately, probably not of that magnitude, but probably will happen again, where atrocities will happen because of war, And I think this movie did a lot to describe, the trials and tribulations outside of imagine being a child growing up there. Like, so I think it was trying to do a lot of things and I think it did, and it would be good for specific populations to view this.

Samantha 11:48

But I'm bummed because as soon as I put this out and I was like, Oh, we're going to review this movie. A documentary came out called The Commandant's Shadow, and it's about Rudolf Haas son, and what it was like for him growing up. And he meets a woman that did live on the other side of the fence, and they meet in that house. And I haven't seen it, it just sounds it's one of those, like, I'm really gonna have to make sure I'm, like, in a great mental health day for that. All right, the first category is what is the most accurate portrayal of the far right in the movie. I have two scenes that I was thinking of. One was when they were all in. Auschwitz and they were talking about the plans and stuff and it was all these higher ups being like your numbers are great blah blah blah we think we're going to promote you and this and that and I truly think that's what the far right thinks they are all going to be not realizing that like those people in charge were a very small group of people. Number and everyone in the far right thinks that they're going to be the Rudolf Haas of the movement of like, I'm going to be so good. I'm going to be promoted. I'm going to be that. And it's like, no, you're going to be the one who is wrestling these human beings to their demise. And then I thought the other accurate portrayal was when the mother came and the mom was talking. She's like, oh, yeah, our next door neighbor. I wonder if she's over there, as if over there is just like a fucking cruise ship that she forgot to get on. And then at night when it is quiet, when there's nothing but you and your thoughts there, she's confronted by that hum. of death and machinery and she has to realize what's actually going on over there and it's not just something people are talking about but when you are actually faced with that kind of tragedy and destruction it's hard to think about like what would you do if you knew what was going on but like you didn't really know and then suddenly there it is in front of you like how do you Do that every day, but I thought that those two were the most accurate in terms of how people actually are on the far right. Like they talk a lot about it, but that's because it was never actually happening in front of them. And I don't think that's something people actually realize

Jamie 13:57

Oh, that's a valid point. Most people I met on the far right have delusions of grandeur.

Samantha 14:01

white.

Jamie 14:02

The far right. Is that a Freudian slip?

Samantha 14:05

I love it. I want to just start calling it the far white.

Jamie 14:09

Keep that in. Yeah, I have like this delusions that they're gonna be this, this powerful leader and they're gonna set their people free and, they're gonna, they're gonna command and dominate, control and dictate what can be done and what can't be done. It's like, dude, you don't even read. Like, you can barely read. how are you gonna lead your people?

Brad 14:28

to build on that king should have turd mountain thing that I always talk about. the scene where he's got his feet on the desk, and he's calling his wife, because he got a promotion.

Samantha 14:38

Oh

Brad 14:38

Like, you're the worst person. You're calling somebody else to tell them that you got promoted in the death camps. You piece of Garbage.

Samantha 14:48

Yeah.

Brad 14:50

that's really what happens in the far right. They're like, hey, I'm in the National Socialist Movement now. It's like, oh, that's shitty.

Samantha 14:58

I think it's also wild that again, it's all these guys, if I could tell you how, I know you guys know it, but every dude in there who thought I'm the reincarnation of Hitler, I'm the reincarnation of Goebbels, I'm the reincarnation of Himmler, there are a lot of those three people in the movement, and no one was ever like, you know what, I think I'm the reincarnation of the one guard in that one picture who was hung It was never that. Everyone has their eye on the glory, and I don't think anyone would be able to accept that, you are You're not a special piece of shit, you're just a piece of shit.

Brad 15:29

one of the many that are floating in the toilet. another piece is he's standing on the dock alone

Samantha 15:35

Yeah.

Brad 15:35

in his white suit, which I hated throughout the

Jamie 15:38

Oh, God. That was garbage.

Brad 15:40

So, what that depicted for me was the loneliness of the actual loneliness of the movement. him standing on that dock looking at the water. I was imagining in that moment when he was there before his wife came down there he was just going to jump into the river and float away. Like but I know that doesn't happen in reality, but that like that in a movie would be like not getting really what I want here. I'm getting transferred. And it would be the mentality of A person in the actual today's far right to be like, well, I didn't really add up

Samantha 16:13

Yeah. How many times have we seen that where someone comes to the reality of what's going on and then they're well, I either am the bad guy for the rest of my life or I just fucking kill myself now. And it's like, that has

Brad 16:25

it's so sad, but

Samantha 16:26

Yeah. but I agree with you, there was definitely a tension there where you were, I wonder if normal people knew that, if they thought, Oh, this is just a Nazi enjoying the land. But us as formers, we know that like, there's that dichotomy of is this life really worth living?

Brad 16:42

There was a lot of truth to the thing that happened right after that too, where she looked at him and said, no, you have to go

Samantha 16:50

Oh, yeah.

Brad 16:51

the movement. Yeah. I heard that personally, no, you do that. I'm not fucking doing it. Like that's your fucking thing. You go do your dumb shit with that group. And I'm going to look after the kids cause someone has to, cause you're not very helpful.

Samantha 17:08

Yeah.

Brad 17:09

And that was also evident for the whole movie. He did fucking nothing really except for the fun things, the swimming, the fishing, the canoeing, he did all those things. But when it came down to like anything else

Samantha 17:21

yeah, he failed up a lot.

Brad 17:24

Yeah.

Samantha 17:24

do we have anything else that we want to add before we go to The next category, was there anything else that we felt was actually pretty true to the portrayal of the far right or of Nazis, I guess, and if not, the next is what is the most sensationalized or what was the most inaccurate part of it? That is hard because this movie so understated that I didn't feel like a whole lot was sensationalized. I was guessing the garden was probably not as beautiful as it looked and there had, there was just no way that those kids weren't afraid, like, yes, hate is taught. All of these things are taught, but there's no way that those kids just naturally were like, Oh yeah, those are just the sounds that happen. Like we just hear screams sometimes like it's, I just don't see that being real. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jamie 18:11

Yeah. Like, the scene where the older brother essentially forced the younger brother into that little shed and locked the door on him. that was pretty powerful. Like, basically, I'm shoving you in this and I'm locking the door and you're not escaping. that's a mind fuck right there. knowing that there's people next door going through that,

Samantha 18:28

And they don't come out

Jamie 18:29

they don't come out. So the clip, the kid clearly knew what was going on. judging by that scene, and then terrified that his older brother was not going to let him out. I thought that was pretty powerful.

Samantha 18:42

I didn't even wow. I didn't even think about that when I was watching it that with that context that is, yeah, that

Jamie 18:50

I could be wrong, but I was just thinking that watching it. And I'm like, that's, especially

Samantha 18:55

I just thought it was just one of those like, oh, it's play for them. And it's literally life or death for the people on the other end. But I never thought about like, the sons have to like, kids are intuitive,

Jamie 19:05

the older boy, like he's playing with gold teeth in a bed, you he's literally like, what are you doing? He's like, Oh, I'm just looking at teeth. that's creepy in itself. So obviously the older boy knew what was going on, maybe the younger kid not as much, but judging by that scene, I'm going to say he probably had a good idea of what was going on.

Samantha 19:25

Yeah. There was a point where I thought the girl that was leaving, she leaving apples or potatoes or something like in the ground and all of these terrible scenes, I thought that was sensationalized. And then I looked it up and there were actually people that would do that, that would leave food in the fields for the prisoners to have to try and help them not totally starve to death, which. was even more depressing than if it was sensationalized, to be honest. Love to say that I think the women getting all of the wares of the stolen wares of Jewish people, I want to say I thought that was sensationalized. I don't. I think that's what happened.

Jamie 20:03

Yeah. Yeah. I don't think they really sensationalized anything. It it was pretty minimalist in their approach to showing things. It was, this is what happened. They didn't glorify it. there was no need to explain it. we know where the clothing comes from and they're picking through this clothing. We know where the gold teeth comes from. The kid's playing with gold teeth. Like, the food thing you were saying about hiding the food. I didn't actually know that, but that's actually, that's cool. Thanks for informing us.

Samantha 20:28

yeah, Brad, was there anything that you thought was like, you're just that's not real.

Brad 20:33

I felt like some of the interactions between the people were not though they did such a good job, so I don't want to take away from that, but I think the garden probably was way more shit than that and I understand why they would like to make it more, I think it added to the artistic impression of the film I think some of the nonchalantness of the way people were just acting about everything, like when they were announcing all the death camps. I admit, I knew there was a lot, but I didn't know there was that many.

Samantha 21:06

I was shocked.

Brad 21:08

And he was just reading them off like an auctioneer reads stuff off. And I'm like, I get that's what they're trying to do, but that would be, I don't know. I you'd have to be a pretty,

Samantha 21:17

yeah, I

Brad 21:18

You're not reading like names of kids in a preschool. You're reading like Some fucked up shit and you know what's going on there.

Samantha 21:25

And I, I think that's really what was so brilliant about the movie when they do that, when they talk about the numbers and they talk about the camps and stuff, you've known the other side your whole life. So for it to depict this part of it, like the people that operated that carnage and made it efficient. I think that, for it to be just so plain Jane, like there was no bloodshed. no one breaks into their house and they're like, yeah, kill them. They're Jewish. there was nothing like that. It was like, it's just another day going to work in my white suit dressed like Colonel Sanders. Like that was it. There was just nothing. the movie itself was almost boring. It was boring, but that's what made it so unsettling was that. two inches of wood that separates the boring slice of life. biopic from the worst atrocity in human history. it was just such a wild thing to think about the whole time.

Brad 22:22

I was feeling that. that whole thing, like, I'm like what's gonna hap ooh, nothing's gonna happen Like, you're expecting for something, because it's cinema, you're expecting for that next, like, Cause you're not seeing the violence on screen thing. like, you see the train coming in and you're like, Oh, they're going to show, and then they don't,

Samantha 22:39

I think that's also what plays to us is like, like, it builds the tension where you're there's going to be something either he's going to have to shoot someone or their wife is going to get hurt or something happens. And yet the whole time you're watching it, you're like, there's going to be violence. But That's the point, is that heinous violence was going on the whole time, in the whole movie. These people were just being systematically fucking murdered and destroyed, and entire bloodlines were taken away. And I think that is the part where like, we know when we see the pictures, you're supposed to feel grimy. You're supposed to feel awful. You're supposed to know that this was bad. But that movie, all of that was bad too, because without them it wouldn't have happened that way. And I think for me, that's, and again, I am pretentious, I'm the film bro, but like, I feel like that's what the movie really depicted was evil isn't just the person pulling the trigger. Evil is the person doing the quality check on the bullets.

Brad 23:43

If there's a scene that exemplifies this, one of the most out of all of it during the film, it was at the beginning, and they went out for that little trip to the lake. And they were coming out up the hill, the guy was holding the kid I swear there was supposed to be a bomber that comes and blows everybody up. or like somebody gets shot right there. cause it's a movie. So you're expecting like, Ooh, it's like a quiet time in the forest. And it's a movie about war. Who's going to die right now? Nobody. They're going to get in their car, and they're going to go home.

Samantha 24:17

because there are hundreds of people per minute being killed

Brad 24:22

doesn't even have to show other type of deaths, because you don't need to even go there, because that doesn't even matter. It's so irrelevant to what's actually happening. and this is the thought that I had at the end, was even if those people died at the beginning, who cares? for who that guy was now it explained who he was so if he got shot in the beginning So he was like ordering the death of hundreds of thousands of people.

Samantha 24:47

yeah, what's one more?

Brad 24:49

but like for who he is and I get it by the end. You're supposed to feel like that In the history, he does he does get killed. I think it was death by hanging or something Like, that. Like, but the war crimes. Yeah. Yeah. but they didn't even have to show that bit. I thought during the movie, they were going to show that like the bit where he dies. Nah, don't think they had to.

Jamie 25:09

No, think that would have taken away from the film.

Brad 25:12

Yeah.

Jamie 25:13

Yeah. That's a really valid point. Yeah, no, I think it would have taken away, showing what happened to him and then showing, Oh you're a bad, you're a piece of shit. And this is how he ended up dying. I think it would have discounted the whole film, had they, not the whole film, but it would have added a different dynamic to the ending or beginning, had they shown that.

Samantha 25:32

No, I agree. I almost want to say the point of not showing it was to be like, this violence hasn't ended yet. So the next category is, what is the message this movie is sending? And my takeaway from it was just kind of, this hasn't ended, Again, evil isn't just the person fitting your noose. Evil are the people that condemn you to death. Evil are the people that, you know what I'm saying? Like, I just I think there was so much more to it that like in everything you do, are you doing something a good person would do? Even if you're just looking at numbers on a sheet of paper? What is that working towards?

Jamie 26:10

You're still complicit, just because you're not the one pulling the trigger, you're still complicit in the overall damage and you still contributed it to regardless of whether or not you think you're disconnected, you're not violent, you've still, yeah, you've still contributed to it.

Brad 26:24

You're guy who figured out. Hate to say this. Scientifically, and categorically, how to eliminate an amount of human life. Like, you're the worst. You're actually even worse than the guy who's just working there. Actually, they had hired, in a lot of cases, not even their own people to do the work. and man that just the scene of them cleaning that shit was just that destroyed me I had to pause it and sit in the corner for a bit like it was it was fucking awful just Started thinking about that. So, yeah,

Jamie 26:59

have you guys been to the Imperial War Museum in London? they have, like, a literal, blast and closing of shoes. like, I've seen that. And then seeing that on the TV is that it took me back to seeing that, In person thinking, holy fuck, like this actually happened. this is unreal.

Brad 27:16

I Couldn't believe how long it in the, that war museum though, I thought it was just going to be an exhibit.

Jamie 27:23

Yeah,

Brad 27:24

This fucking shit was so real that it went on and on and it wasn't like a monotony on and on. It was like, holy shit. It got more real as you got to each thing. I remember seeing the shoes and then you see the thing about the kids and I was just like, I don't know.

Samantha 27:44

it's overwhelming. And I think that's, it's just a very, you have to be brainwashed. Or not brainwashed. Well, yeah, that's the best word I can think of. You have to be brainwashed to some capacity to not have that affect you or for you to think that's not real. There's no incentive for anyone to make that up.

Brad 28:04

Unless you're also as fucking deranged as the people who committed those atrocities.

Samantha 28:09

but it's the most studied event. in human history. It has been studied by literally every race, every gender, every person. The next category former? Who would have left? I personally think the prostitute that had sex with Mr. Haas. Who showed up in his office. I feel like she eventually would have been abused enough or gone through enough stuff where she'd be like, you know what, I will not do this anymore. And I think the sons, the wife was in it for life. She was very clearly happy with her station. And I think Haas, whether he believed in it or not, whether he got sick out of his, moral concern or not I think he was successful by way of getting promotions, making more money, getting job transfers, that he would have kept his job. He didn't need to get dirty. But yeah, I think the kids and I think the prostitute.

Jamie 28:57

Definitely the youngest kid. And the daughter that was hiding the food.

Samantha 29:03

Yeah,

Jamie 29:04

She clearly understood that these people are starving. And the young boy clearly understood that the sheer terror of being locked out. in a room. Older boy, I'm on the fence.

Samantha 29:18

He's a dick.

Jamie 29:19

Well, playing with gold teeth is a little, like, is a little fucked up. Locking your little brother in a thing is a little fucked up. but yeah, Definitely the daughter and the young boy.

Samantha 29:31

100 percent Brad, did you have anything to add?

Brad 29:34

there's a scene and I don't know which guys where they go and they're having that meeting about the numbers, And there's like, it pans across these faces of all the men that are in there. you see When they're talking, there's like a dude who looks down a little bit or whatever. And it's just, it can't have been that they all agreed There's gotta be a guy. And I think that's what they were trying to depict I think they're also trying to say like it can't be that everyone in that room is like go get them guys

Samantha 30:05

Yeah, I assume also when you say this, you're not asking, I don't think we need to, like, extend sympathy to people that were there. But I think it's just that realization that, like, the Third Reich, and all of this, was a net negative for literally everyone, including the Nazis. Sorry, I just wanted to, like, clarify that in case one of the listeners is like, I'm sorry, are you trying to say that, one of the Nazis was a secret good guy? Like, we're not trying to say that.

Brad 30:33

No, definitely a bad dude. Cause he was sitting in that room and had been promoted to officer. And that's all the people who were in that room. but the change can happen, right.

Samantha 30:42

On that note, what do you think was most prescient? Was there anything in the movie where it based on the time there, it had predicted what the modern movement does or, like, were there things in there where you're Oh, yeah, they were doing this before my time,

Brad 30:54

that woman said it. She's like, no, I love being here, this is where I'm gonna live forever. wait, what the f You're telling me you want to live beside a death camp for your whole life, with your kids. Cool. That tells me something, though, about even today's movement. You want to live in, and I'll say this, when you join the movement, you will think that things are great for a bit. Things will worsen slowly over time for you. Your life will start to suck worse. Then it already does

Samantha 31:26

And when it does, you will at first make excuses for it and think it's a one off or have a blame for someone that's not you. Until little by little, your entire life that you enjoyed was stripped away from you.

Brad 31:40

like you use the word enjoyed. I love that because there isn't anything that you enjoy anymore. And I can say this, I know how many times Jamie, we sat when we weren't with groups of people during, in the movement, it was like. What are we doing? Like, that's so negative, it's so bad, it's ripping emotional strings out of your heart, it's messing up your actual relationships in your life, and literally in that movie, you're watching the downfall of relationships of people, right? they all fucking know it's wrong. Like, they all do. they all know it's so bad, right?

Samantha 32:19

I was going to say, I do think it's possible that there are true believers in there

Brad 32:24

Oh, 100%. But that doesn't take away from the wrongness.

Samantha 32:28

yeah, A weird category to put in this one, but did you have a favorite part of the movie? Was there anything that. You were like, oh, that was good, or that was surprisingly rewatchable or something like that. what I will say, it was a hard watch in general, and it was difficult, but the way that it was done well enough for like, the daughter putting the food out. It was so difficult to watch, just the way that it was shot and everything like that. But my favorite part of the movie was watching, this one light try and give nourishment to people that are suffering. I just thought that, like, just to have it randomly placed in the movie so that you never felt too sad, where you were like, I have to cry. But the incongruence or, like, the complete 180 from, this girl putting food out for people, and then it immediately goes to, this miserable family that hates everything. Like, I just thought that was a very interesting and, like, well placed thing to do.

Jamie 33:29

well, that's good. I like that.

Samantha 33:31

And, the last category is what was the hardest art for you to watch?

Brad 33:38

The whole movie.

Jamie 33:40

Yeah, the implied violence.

Brad 33:43

It was that hum, man, in the background. It was the frickin when they're in their kitchen talking and you hear gunshots in the background and you bloody well know what it is. It's fucked. it's not like a, guy out shooting a mongoose on his farm or whatever, it's a fairly nebulous occasion maybe for some that have farms, I don't know, but you knew what those sounds were maybe the scene behind the house with the ashes on the soil, and the dude is, tilling it for whatever he's doing there. That was rough there was some other rough scene that was that was pretty bad I'll say I think they did really well with depicting what they wanted to do here though, and I think we've all hit on what it's like you're on the brink of crying. On the brink of anger, you're on the brink of fear, the maybe this happens again someday, you never know really with what's going on, I think it's that mixture of emotions that they're definitely trying to

Samantha 34:46

Well, and it's it's also, it's such a weird thing, because, like we talked about before, it's yeah, it's a movie about a family that has their mom come to visit, and they garden, and the dad gets a promotion, It happens to be the promotion, happens to be the comment out for Auschwitz. And then immediately people are like, oh, this must be so violent and gory and bloody and awful. actually, there's no violence in the movie at all. there's strangely none of that. And it's just a very unnerving movie. I saw it a while ago and I was like, this movie, I need to talk to people about this movie just because it really made me. examine myself and examine things. And again, like for what it's worth, my grandmother was in Hitler Youth and a lot of the ways that family functioned was very similar to how I grew up. So there was a lot of like, maybe it hit me deeper than it will for most people. But I don't have a desire to watch it again. Like I was going to watch it last night and I was like, I'll just take notes of it and Fast forward through it. I was like, this is a less graphic Requiem for a Dream where you're like, you know what? I know what happens. I don't need to relive that. question. Did you like it? Did you like the movie?

Jamie 35:57

Yes and no. Yes, for the reasons we've discussed they did a great job of depicting a lot of things. I don't think I could watch it again because it was really powerful, depressing, emotional, and it angers me that people still celebrate that era and still look to that era and glorify that era and get dressed up in brown shirts and prance around and, call themselves NSM or whatever you want to call yourself nowadays.

Samantha 36:26

Brad calls it master racing around and we've

Jamie 36:28

Master. Oh, I like that master racing. Wow. I might steal that. Um,

Samantha 36:34

know.

Jamie 36:35

So yeah, I liked it, but once enough is enough for me, but you know what I recommended to other people. Yes, for sure.

Samantha 36:43

Brad, what about you? Did you like it?

Brad 36:45

Yeah, I did. I thought it hit hard at times. I really like that it didn't have a glorification piece

Jamie 36:53

Yes.

Brad 36:54

Where, at the beginning of this, we were answering questions about that or whatever. think this really explained the life and plight of one of the most awful people within the Third Reich. Yeah. and I think without the violence, the, obviously we know there was violence happening throughout the movie, but I think without the violence, I think that's really what took it to the next level of understanding for, like intellectually ready people to understand this film in that sense that it isn't just a film about, High ranking member of the Deathshead, SS, whatever. It's a movie about people who are living on the side of the perpetrators of the atrocities And those people were real. This really happened. those five kids the people involved the servants at their house, all of that stuff, these are real things that went on. There's books that have been written about it too, about this guy So I think it did well about stripping the Nazi needle away from it too, and making it more about. People are capable of the worst types of things. And it's not who you think it is, all the time.

Samantha 38:05

I also liked that, like you were talking about in the meeting where one of the officials hangs his head low that Haas throws up, they depict the fact that there were likely people who doubted this the whole time. There were likely people that wanted to get out. And I think about my time in the movement where like, I had to make that decision of I don't want to be here. Do I keep going with this thing and my life stays miserable or do I accept that I might die trying to get out? And I think that's, for me, the part where it's like, I, it's, there was never a portrait of sympathy being painted for anyone. It was just very much like, all of these people are bad. Not all of them are evil, but they all did awful things. And I think that is also, again, just a really, like, Poignant. Like whether you doubted it or not, you were complicit. You did it. You did it. Whether you did it for the paycheck or for something else, you did it. I thought about touching on like the red. swatches of stuff that would go on throughout the movie, but it's an art film. It's abstract. I just felt like it represented a lot of different things. I don't need to interpret that for anyone. Yeah, is there anything that you guys wanted to bring up before I think you guys and wrap it up?

Jamie 39:24

That's all I can think of.

Samantha 39:26

Okay, cool, then. Well, this was our take on The Zone of Interest. If you agree, disagree, think we have no right to be reviewing these movies, please feel free to join the Discord and yell and kick and scream or agree with us. After this, the next movie that we are reviewing is called Imperium. Thank you guys for coming on and talking about this with me, and I'll talk to you soon.

Jamie 39:47

Thanks.

Brad 39:48

See ya.