Aufhebunga Bunga
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/414/ Zone of Banality or the Authority of Evil?
🕑 Added 2024-05-31 07:00:05 +0000 UTCOn Zone of Interest and Holocaust film.
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We discuss the winner of the Oscar for Best International Feature Film – one that split opinion, among critics and on the pod too!
How does the film fit in the pantheon of Holocaust films? Is it a Holocaust film?
How well does it deal with its obvious subject matter: the banality of evil?
Is the film neutral and detached or preachy, condescending, moralising?
What to make of the commentary around the film, including director Jonathan Glazer's statements? How does it relate to Israel/Palestine?
What to make of present-day Auschwitz? Should it be preserved?
Link:
The Zone of Interest is an extreme form of 'Holokitsch', Richard Brody, New Yorker
Is The Zone of Interest simply uninteresting? Toby Marshall, Substack
The Zone of Interest is about the danger of ignoring atrocities – including in Gaza, Naomi Klein, The Guardian
The Zone of Interest Reminds Us How Easy It Is to Ignore a Genocide on Your Doorstep, Juliet Jacques, Novara
The Banality of Evil is No Longer Banal, Maren Thom, Café americain
Comments
Iro Kalogeropoulou
Indeed. For me the scenes involving children were the ones that stayed with me most. Each of them gradually escalates the rot in the core of this idyllic family home throughout thr film. From the sleepwalking daughter to the youngest overhearing an actual execution.
Mouldy L
Something I was struck by in this movie was the emphasis put on women, motherhood and adjacent images of femininity. In cinema the nazi project is almost completely dominated by male figures. The Zone is quite peculiar in that sense, especially in the year of Barbie, and was a good emetic after the pink gloop we all had to swallow.
Ghost Runner
I wonder what makes Phil so hostile when any of you guys say anything he disagrees with. We’ll probably never know. Anyway, each of you refers to “good” movies or “great” movies what are your criteria?
