Sandra Hüller in “The Zone of Interest" at the Figge Art Museum -- May 7.
Thursday, May 7, 6 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
A two-time Academy Award winner The Times deemed a "landmark movie, hugely important, that's unafraid of difficult ideas," writer/director Jonathan Glazer's Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest will be screened at the Figge Art Museum on May 7, this powerful 2023 work the latest presentation in the Davenport venue's series of provocative, suspenseful films set in the context of authoritarian fascism.
Loosely based on the 2014 novel by Martin Amis, The Zone of Interest focuses on the life of German Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel) and his wife Hedwig, (current Project Hail Mary co-star Sandra Hüller) who live with their family in a home in the "Zone of Interest" next to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Development began in 2014 around the publication of the Amis novel, which was partially based on real events. Glazer opted to tell the story of the real Hösses rather than the characters they inspired and conducted extensive research into the family, as he sought to demystify the perpetrators of the Holocaust as "mythologically evil." The project was formally announced in 2019, with A24 confirmed to distribute. Filming took place primarily around Auschwitz in mid-2021, while additional filming took place in Jelenia Góra in January of 2022.
The Zone of Interest premiered at the 76th Cannes Film Festival on 19 May 2023 and was theatrically released in the United States on December 15, 2023, receiving acclaim and grossing more than $52 million worldwide. It received five nominations (including Best Picture) at the 96th Academy Awards, winning Best International Feature (the first for a non-English British film) and Best Sound. Glazer's film also won the Grand Prix at Cannes and three British Academy Film Awards, becoming the first film to win both Best Film Not in the English Language and Outstanding British Film.
In addition, The Zone of Interest received three nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, and was named one of the top five international films of 2023 by the National Board of Review. It has been regarded as one of the greatest films of the 2020s and the 21st century. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93 percent of 356 reviews are positive, with an average rating of 9.0/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Dispassionately examining the ordinary existence of people complicit in horrific crimes, The Zone of Interest forces us to take a cold look at the mundanity behind an unforgivable brutality." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 92 out of 100, based on 58 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
The Zone of Interest will be screened in the Figge Art Museum's John Deere Auditorium on May 7, admission to the 6 p.m. showing is free, and the Figge bar will be open for food and beverages beginning at 5 p.m. (cards only). For more information on the evening, call (563)326-7804 and visit FiggeArtMuseum.org.
