315: The Zone of Interest + Good

[00:00:00] Phew, what a mission. A cool down in the sea would be the right thing to do. El Tur has holidays for all. Negotiations are terminated. I need a vacation now. El Tur has holidays for all. Yeah, relax while you're at it for now.

[00:00:22] El Tur has holidays for all. In the El Tur travel shop or at eltur.com. Secure the best last-minute deals. Hello everybody, welcome back to the Film Buds Podcast. This is episode number 291 and my name is Henry.

[00:00:52] Just me this time around, but we'll still be a great show so thanks as always for joining us. Please hit that subscribe button now if you haven't yet and give us a rating, give us a review please and thank you to all those who have recently.

[00:01:06] This time around, got a pretty good show. I'm going to be tackling the new Jonathan Glaser Holocaust drama, if that's what you want to call it, The Zone of Interest, which is a Best Picture nominee this year.

[00:01:20] And then I'm going to be doing a retro review of the World War II film Good from 2008 starring Viggo Mortensen. So should be a great show, got a couple other things I've watched, all the usual stuff.

[00:01:35] So first thing, big thing, if you haven't already noticed and if you are a subscriber you surely have noticed. So the mini marathon series that I started in the last couple of weeks which is basically

[00:01:47] 4, 5, 6 minute reviews that are no music, no intros, no clips, no nothing, just quick breezy reviews that you can burn through and even if you don't know the movie I'm sure you can enjoy it because it's a quick easy listen.

[00:02:05] And the original concept was to have that be a release on Wednesdays where I would release 5 or more chapters quote unquote at a time and you could just listen to all 5 of them

[00:02:18] at once and I figured that would just be a new sub series of the show but I figured in terms of new listeners coming in and not knowing what it is and then also since I would be

[00:02:30] releasing it sort of backwards in a way like you listen to it downwards instead of the weekly episodes going up of course numerically I'm now changing it and we're going to try it out.

[00:02:41] It may not be a permanent long term thing but I'm going to see if people like it and if I like doing it and I have the ability to keep up with it which is now the mini marathon

[00:02:50] series is now a daily series so we will still have the main episodes, weekly episodes like this one on Mondays as we always do and then typically Tuesdays through Saturdays we will be doing a quick daily quote unquote review which will be exactly what a mini marathon

[00:03:11] is the same structure the same style just released each day instead of all at once on one day so we're going to try it out. I like that idea because I have so many films that I've watched and so many that I watch

[00:03:22] in my off time that I don't even talk about on the weekly show like this one so it gives us a chance to cover more movies get more episodes possibly get more listeners and all

[00:03:33] that good stuff so we're going to give it a shot let us know your thoughts comments suggestions because it is something that I like so far and I'm excited to see what we can do with it.

[00:03:43] Other than that not too much as always you can check out our bonus show page at filmbuds.bandcamp.com we are also now on YouTube all episodes released to the regular feed such as this one are now

[00:03:56] on our YouTube page so you can check that out in the show notes if you want to comment or listen to it there so yeah that's about it really not a whole lot else going on whenever

[00:04:07] Elle is able to come back she will fill y'all in about things going on with her it's been a bit of a crazy couple of months so as always I'll wait for her to talk about that herself.

[00:04:18] Alright well we got some good stuff to talk about let's go and get into our first review which is the zone of interest and this one is in German so I won't be doing a clip it's

[00:04:30] directed by Jonathan Glaser it stars Christian Freidel Sandra Huller Lily Falk Max Beck not really a big cast and the synopsis is Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf Haas and his wife Hedwig strive to build a dream life for their family and a house and garden beside the camp.

[00:04:52] So I know Jonathan Glaser from Under the Skin with Scarlett Johansson which I didn't know who he was until I saw that movie and I think that movie still remains one of the best sci-fi

[00:05:07] movies of the 21st century and definitely one of A24's best movies amongst other credits when I heard about this one I was incredibly excited because I didn't know how long it was going to be it's about 10 years since Under the Skin came out he's a pretty slow

[00:05:25] sort of filmmaker in terms of his production but being a World War II history nut as I am it was sort of a match made in heaven despite the really dark nature of the story I was like

[00:05:39] Jonathan Glaser that style of filmmaker and then him diving into World War II I thought was a great match there and I just got around to seeing this one in the last week it's now on digital

[00:05:52] for purchase so you can check it out there I wish I had been able to see it in theaters but for the movie itself I think that for one I'm really glad that this movie got a Best Picture

[00:06:04] nominee as well as Glaser getting a Best Director nominee because it's rare movies like this get nominated and get that sort of recognition I don't know how many people are going to go out

[00:06:16] and see it even with that nomination however I'm still really glad a movie like this that is very sort of art housey it's A24 and it's also telling a very very dark story but in a

[00:06:30] very unconventional way so I'm glad that it is getting the press that it is overall I thought the movie was quite good I do want to re-watch it because for anyone who doesn't

[00:06:42] know the sound of the movie is a big big thing because the overall concept of the film is the commandant of Auschwitz his house was right next door to the camp so you could climb over the wall

[00:06:58] and be in Auschwitz and you could see the buildings of Auschwitz just above the wall so he was right next door and basically he and his family lived a completely normal life and I think

[00:07:10] at least what I get from the movie is it's very much a look at quote-unquote normal sort of evil and the banality of evil where you could easily have this story be in terms of how he goes about

[00:07:23] his day being the CEO of a big corporation or something like he's going about a completely normal day having meetings oh well this gas chamber works this way and oh could we redesign

[00:07:37] this and oh these people got hurt we need to make sure that this doesn't happen again and are we getting enough supplies do we have enough men it's pretty horrifying and very subtly done because

[00:07:48] you aren't even thinking just as he isn't thinking like this is his normal sort of day and even though the most unimaginable horrors are going on right next door which you can hear

[00:07:59] it's like you're just living on a nice family farm or something or a state so it's pretty disturbing unsettling chilling and a very as I just said earlier a very unconventional way of

[00:08:11] doing it because you never go into the camp you only hear the sounds and from what I've read in interviews and watched they spent years and years trying to get the sounds most authentic sounds and

[00:08:24] the proper use of sounds from Auschwitz so that you know when the wife is walking through her guard you're hearing gunshots screams prisoners doing their normal work sort of slave labor during the

[00:08:40] day people giving orders like it's a really insane thing to experience and that's why I really want to re-watch it with headphones because the speakers that I watched the movie on weren't amazing and so

[00:08:52] I feel like I lost a lot on the sound in that way and Jonathan Glaser said that was not necessarily the most important thing the sound but it was something that he really really put a big focus

[00:09:03] on even more so than the visuals which the movie looks fantastic it has really great as all Glaser movies do fantastic composition very deep focused cinematography it's very cleanly shot the look of

[00:09:16] the house everything is very Kubrickian in a way and so the movie looks fantastic but the sound is really the most in a lot of ways the most important part of the film because that's where you're

[00:09:30] getting the context from because otherwise like I said with the being the CEO of a company his life looks normal but of course it's the furthest thing from that in reality and then there's the

[00:09:45] sequences where the wife is sort of laughing off the horrors of what's going on and then I think it's her mother or another family member that comes to stay and at first the family member is like oh

[00:09:59] yeah like I understand like this isn't so bad and it's nice that you're living here and that you're doing this job and then over time she starts to see the chimneys with the smoke and ashes coming

[00:10:12] from the bodies being burned at the camps the screams the gunshots and then she has a change of heart which isn't really a spoiler it's a small part of the movie and Rudolf Haas is it's hard to

[00:10:23] even really talk about the movie properly because it's so understated in a way but then you're always reminded of what's happening next door and I've never really seen a movie like that in terms of the holocaust especially and I know Steven Spielberg really praised the movie for that

[00:10:40] sort of perspective because we haven't really had that ever before in cinema and that's why Jonathan Glazer is such an incredible filmmaker because yeah I wish he was a little bit more prolific

[00:10:53] and quick with his films but this and Under the Skin are definitely two of the most unique original films of the last decade for sure in their own respective genres and styles because there's really nothing else like Under the Skin and there's nothing else really like this either

[00:11:12] so even though we're weighed in 10 years in between each one I think it's worth the wait for a lot of reasons. Also some other interesting parts is the portrayal of Rudolf Haas which I've

[00:11:27] researched and learned a lot about the holocaust over the years I don't know much about him at all but his portrayal is very interesting because he is the sort of stereotypical Nazi

[00:11:38] not in a bad way where he's incredibly well presented clean and then also they make a point of showing how he doesn't want any sort of mess any trace or evidence of anything going wrong

[00:11:51] he always wants to look his best which obviously that's his position but for example where he not a big spoiler here but there's a hint at a affair with some random woman and then after that before

[00:12:05] he goes back home you see him going into the basement and like intimately cleaning himself so there's no trace of that and then when he's fishing I think with his two kids in the river

[00:12:18] he sees this wave of ashes and dust and whatever else coming from the camps about to make contact with them and contaminate them obviously for lack of a better word and he gets out and then he

[00:12:31] chastises the guards and whoever else for how careless that they can be so even though he's the commandant of this camp he's like well I don't want to be around the ashes I don't want to be

[00:12:42] around the remains and so there's this very like blind eye sort of feel to the whole movie and then even and I won't spoil the ending too much in terms of the character but

[00:12:53] the change of heart in a way with the wife I think is very interesting based on how her husband is talking to her over the phone so later on in the movie he travels and then he calls her

[00:13:04] and his mind is always on Auschwitz and how to most efficiently do his job which of course is the most horrifying thing ever and then his wife is even like all right I gotta go

[00:13:17] like it's a very isolating sort of movie in that way where most people are turning a blind eye whether they're a family member or they're Rudolf Haas himself and then even his kids like

[00:13:31] there's a scene where one of his kids is playing with what you think is toys or bits and pieces of something that a normal kid would play with but it's actually golden teeth that have been taken

[00:13:42] from prisoners so there's a lot of subtlety in the movie and one thing I loved in the filmmaking aspect of it is there are these thermal sequences where you see a girl sneaking through the camp

[00:13:58] and leaving some food and also going to pick fruit from the woods and I won't say anything more than that but the look of those scenes is amazing and so unique and very unexpected for

[00:14:10] that and one scene that works and sort of justifies that in a way in terms of the thermal look of the movie and how that feeds into the story is when the ashes are being pushed out of

[00:14:21] the chimney you see someone hanging up clothes and ashes that are of course hot are illuminated in the vast darkness of the area around the camp so it's a very subtle unsettling movie that I

[00:14:36] think you really have to see multiple times not that most are gonna want to re-watch this I want to because of trying to get more out of it and also as I said the appreciation for the sound

[00:14:48] work but there's a lot of subtlety as it is with all Jonathan Glazer movies and his two movies before Under the Skin even are like that as well so it's a very incredible for lack of a better

[00:15:00] term film I don't think it's a masterpiece yet I think Under the Skin is still his best movie for sure but this one is very worth watching for a number of reasons it's a very important story

[00:15:11] and it's also a very unfortunately very current sort of issue where people are turning a blind they don't want to think about this going on they don't want to think about that hey this war is happening this genocide is happening this terrorist attack just happened a shooting

[00:15:26] whatever it might be COVID you know it's like oh well that's not my problem it's not involving me or anyone I know so I won't worry about it so it's a thoughtful profound story in this day and

[00:15:39] age and I'm really really glad that Glazer decided to do it in the way that he did not one for everyone I don't think it is slower and it's quite dark and grim and you know a lot of people

[00:15:51] don't want to watch a movie about the leader of Auschwitz which I get but if you can stomach it I would watch it and then also one thing jumping towards the end I really did like where it's not

[00:16:05] a spoiler because it's not anything about this story itself there's a jump cut to modern day at Auschwitz where you see a cleaning crew going through and doing their normal

[00:16:20] sanitation routines at the camp and I really like that at first I was like why are you showing us this I like that they did give the audience a modern look at Auschwitz and that you can still

[00:16:32] go there and that work is still being done there in terms of keeping that historic landmark so to speak there and on top of that what I got is as much as Rudolf Haas and the Nazis wanted to

[00:16:46] wipe away all evidence of wrongdoing at the camps and just in general of the Third Reich sanitation for them was a way of hiding that evidence but then now people going in and doing

[00:16:59] their normal janitorial duties and preserving that sadly very dark history sanitation is now a way to keep history alive so that people don't forget it and maybe that's reaching I don't know if that

[00:17:13] was exactly the point but I got that from the end and then the final moments with Rudolf Haas walking down the stairs was very effective and Michael Levy's score is amazing she's an amazing

[00:17:24] composer if you don't know her I would check her out so do check it out not best of the year for me probably would have been in my top 10 list if I'd seen it back when we did the other show not sure

[00:17:37] it's kind of on the edge maybe it'll go up over time I feel like it will but as of now it's a heavy four out of five all right with that done let's get to our retro review which is

[00:17:51] good from 2008 and we do have a clip so take a listen tell me the story all right outside a railwayman is having a wheel with his hammer and this is an echo of this precise sound

[00:18:05] there are changes coming at the university sooner than you think promotion will automatically go to party members if you're not careful you'll be out of a job give it time morris hitler's a jerk

[00:18:17] he'll never last before inviting you here we did of course examine your record but everything more or less in order except for one oversight you never joined the party all right so good is directed by vicente amirim sorry if i said that name wrong stars vigo mortensen

[00:18:35] jason isaacs jody whittaker mark strong jim and jones few others and the synopsis is john howder a german literature professor in the 1930s is initially reluctant to accept the ideas of the

[00:18:50] nazi party he is pulled in different emotional directions and he is not a fan of the nazi party he is pulled in different emotional directions by his wife his mother his mistress

[00:19:00] and a jewish friend so this one is based off a play which i haven't seen and i did see this one probably early 2010s for the first time when i was getting really interested in world war ii history

[00:19:15] and i was and still am a big lord of the rings fan so i wanted to see everything that vigo mortensen was in because i love him in general having re-watched it now it's about at the same

[00:19:26] level i don't think it's amazing i don't think it's as good as it could be i don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be it is fairly dry i will admit that it's a little slow

[00:19:37] however i think the ideas are there which we'll get to in just a minute and vigo mortensen amazing like he is such a subtle natural restrained actor and he gives a performance that

[00:19:50] it's hard to really see the work that i think he does and he puts in but on re-watches that performance was even better like he is amazing in this movie and it's a very very underrated

[00:20:01] role for him and the rest of the cast very good jason isaacs love him mark strong and what makes the movie fairly unique and i haven't really seen another story like this in a sense

[00:20:13] and that's sort of why it made me think of zone of interest it's where this is largely before the war and vigo mortensen is a professor normal professor in germany and he writes a paper or publishes a

[00:20:29] book and then suddenly the nazis see it as a sort of addition to their ideology and then he is slowly transformed into becoming part of that party and he is dealing with jason isaacs who is

[00:20:44] jewish his best friend and him being very very worried about vigo mortensen's place in germany and then his loyalty to him but i think mainly what i got is how it shows one person who is

[00:21:00] i guess in some ways in the middle of a political ideology or in a society and then one action such as not necessarily writing a book because that also is an idea where where a piece of art

[00:21:14] literature a film a song can be interpreted in a lot of different ways and it can be used sometimes not always for the better by the wrong people and so i think that's very interesting but

[00:21:27] also him not being interested in the nazis at first and then slowly taking action saying oh i'll come to this party i'll meet with you i'll be a guest at this ball whatever it might be and

[00:21:39] then slowly before you know it you're a whole different person and your loyalties both personally and professionally are changed and your life has changed forever and you can't really get out of it

[00:21:50] and then by the end and it's like 15 years old i can spoil it where by the end of the movie he's wearing a nazi uniform he's visiting the concentration camps and his jewish friend has

[00:22:01] been taken away to the camps he can't find him and he's never gonna find him so it's a very sad yet thoughtful story about changing of hearts changing of ideologies whether it's intentional or not and then the consequences of that for example suddenly finding yourself in the nazi

[00:22:21] party and being there by perhaps fear of what might happen to you if you reject it or because you feel in other ways safer there or whatever it might be it's i think all those ideas are

[00:22:35] definitely there it's nothing incredible it's not a masterpiece as i said but i think it is still worth watching especially if you like world war ii era-esque stories and if you want something that's a little bit more quieter restrained non-action oriented non-war oriented it's more

[00:22:52] the day-to-day life in europe and when the nazis were slowly or i guess quickly taking over so wish it was a little bit better and there's i think some areas of the movie that could be

[00:23:09] amped up a little bit in terms of suspense or drama or emotion it is one that i think some people get bored with which i can understand i sort of have a molasses level of patience i can

[00:23:21] watch paint dry in a movie and i'll probably be entertained so this kind of movie in some ways is even the sort of film for me the style the toned down nature of the storytelling all of that it

[00:23:33] really works for me i get if it doesn't work for you but it does for me so yeah not a whole lot else to say would it be on my best of list in terms of world war ii films or films dealing

[00:23:44] with the nazis or concentration camps zone of interest definitely would be bumped up on that list but this one not as much it's not really there and i don't think it'll ever be there fully

[00:23:56] in terms of top 10 lists or anything like that but it's still worth watching so that is a three and a half out of five all right well with that done i can finish off

[00:24:07] with pics of the week have a couple of things first i re-watched yet again oppenheimer with a friend of mine co-worker of mine and still amazing absolutely love it favorite film of the

[00:24:19] year by far and one of my favorite christopher nolan movies then i watched another world war ii film which i reviewed on the world war ii resistance film bonus show which you can check

[00:24:33] out on bandcamp but i re-watched and showed a co-worker as well valkyrie with tom cruise which i think is incredibly underrated one of tom cruise's best dramatic performances for sure as of late and a very very important wild story about a group of high-ranking nazi officers trying to

[00:24:52] kill hitler and there were many many attempts on his life over the years and this one was probably the most well-known so do check it out if you like espionage movies world war ii history if

[00:25:02] you like tom cruise like he has a very big cast very well directed and overall just very entertaining like it's not in the same vein as zone of interest or anything like that it's very

[00:25:12] accessible i think to most people then i re-watched big eyes which is a great movie big eyes the tim burton film with amy adams and christoph waltz about the painter famous painter

[00:25:27] and i like it i still do think though as with most of his movies as of late not amazing not as great as they could be or as they once were still entertaining a pretty wild story about this

[00:25:42] famous female painter and then she meets christoph waltz's character and he at first seems like hey i'll help you sell them we'll do this as a team and then he tries to take credit for that and it

[00:25:54] is a true story so all of that is pretty entertaining and eye-opening at the same time and very good performances it looks good just not an amazing movie not one of tim burton's best but

[00:26:07] a little bit more of a restrained version of his style and it still works and then lastly i re-watched the strangers the first one which there's a new one coming out sometime this year and i think this one is fantastic like it does follow very conventional

[00:26:25] horror home invasion tropes but i think it's done incredibly well how quiet the movie is at times the look of the three strangers the suspense there the use of sound is amazing talking about

[00:26:40] zone of interest the use of sound in this movie is amazing in terms of building suspense giving you those chills and that mystery is amazing and it is really worth watching and i'm very

[00:26:51] excited to see what they do with this next i think trilogy or something uh whatever they're going to do with it but i think this one holds up very well is definitely one of the better home

[00:27:00] invasion films of the 2000s and even the 2010s so do check it out if you are up for it because it is very intense pretty grim and i think that is about it so as always follow us on social media

[00:27:18] at film buds subscribe rate review share with your friends your family please follow us me and my wife l and co-host on letterboxd we have accounts there go to our bonus show page at filmbuds.bandcamp.com

[00:27:32] keep an eye out for the new daily series coming tomorrow after this episode comes out so hopefully that will work well and we'll be able to keep it moving fairly consistently

[00:27:45] bear with us in terms of our schedules and stuff there might be times where we're a little bit delayed and all that but i'm going to do my best to keep all that going as efficiently as possible

[00:27:54] all right well hope you enjoyed it even half as much as i did and i'll see you next time y'all