Have you watched Best Picture nominee The Zone of Interest yet? If not, you’re not alone. Film Twitter (sorry “Film X” doesn’t have the same ring to it) has been dying to get into a screening with so few showtimes available.
But the hype around the film has been growing as it’s made its rounds at festivals in the past year, starting with Cannes last May. You might have even noticed it in a few “best of” lists at the end of last year. Now that it’s secured five Academy Award nominations (including Directing, International Feature Film, Sound, and Adapted Screenplay), interest is sure to skyrocket even more.
Directed by British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast), The Zone of Interest is a startling depiction of a Nazi family living just outside an Auschwitz concentration camp. As they go about their daily lives with their five children, smoke rises in the periphery of their walled home and garden, and haunting sounds echo in the distance. It’s a chilling portrayal, aided by performances by Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller (you might recognize her from Anatomy of a Fall).
“For me, this is not a film about the past. It’s trying to be about now, and about us and our similarity to the perpetrators, not our similarity to the victims,” Glazer told The Guardian.
Where can I watch it?
The Zone of Interest is currently playing in theaters and is not yet available to rent or buy on demand. However, it will eventually stream on Max thanks to a deal between the streamer and the film’s distributor, A24. A number of titles such as Priscilla and The Iron Claw will end up on the platform, including this one. But an exact streaming date has not yet been announced.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she’s listening to Lorde right now.
