There is a rumbling noise that stirs in the background of The Zone of Interest, the new Oscar-winning Holocaust film about the idyllic life of the family of Auschwitz lead commandant Rudolf Hoss who lived in a villa outside the walls of the concentration camp from 1940-1943. The film is a depiction of the ‘banality of evil’ – showing the ways in which our most evil acts can be rationalized, normalized and ignored. As scenes of beautiful gardens, children at play and adults relaxing in the sun float across the screen, that rumbling noise of trains arriving, gunshots and screams lingers in the background. The characters in the film are oblivious to the deafening sounds of horror that are all around them. They completely ignore the sonorous carnage while enjoying nature, togetherness and recreation.
The Zone of Interest is a thoughtful and important film that deserves attention. It reminds viewers how easy it is for human beings to remove themselves from moral responsibility. But instead of speaking up about the film’s critical message, writer-director Jonathan Glazer chose to use his Oscar speech on Sunday night to call out Israeli occupation. In a short and poorly worded speech that many misunderstood to mean that Glazer was refuting his Judaism (he was not), the director blamed occupation as the culprit for violence and dehumanization in Israel and Gaza.
The conflict in the middle east deserves our attention but it is not simply Israeli occupation that lies at its heart. It is the intense hatred of Jews that continues to control Palestinian and world opinion of Israel. By focusing solely on occupation, Glazer put responsibility for the conflict solely on Israel and disregarded the hostility that Israel and Jews face each and every day. Instead of providing the Oscar audience with clarity, Glazer confused them by simplifying the conflict and empowering those who demonize Zionism and Jewish power.
The Zone of Interest explains how easy it was for morality to be abandoned during the Shoah. It was too easy for men to lose their sense of what was right and wrong. Men like Rudolf Hoss had the ability to do horrific things during the day while coming home and being a loving parent at night. Hoss and his family ignored the reality of suffering that took place just beyond the walls of their villa.
Israelis and Jews today are facing incredible hostility that is also being ignored. They are being told by the world that Jews have too much power and that Israel is an immoral entity that has no right to exist. Perhaps Glazer should have watched the commercials during the Oscar which included a powerful spot about a church that needed to open up its doors to a Bar Mitzvah family who had been forced out of their synagogue.
Yes, there is now a rumbling sound in the background of our own world that too many are ignoring – the sound of Jews once again being targeted and told that their place in the world is full of unmerited gain.
Glazer’s speech emboldened those who believe the lie that Israel is fully at fault for the current conflict and for the death of innocents in Gaza. By centering the conflict solely on occupation, he chose to ignore the rise of antisemitism and the hatred of Jews that is now erupting. In essence, Glazer became just like the very characters in his film who go about their daily lives oblivious to the reality that surrounds them.
A solution to the conflict in the middle east will never come from Oscar speech soundbites that simplify all that is taking place. A solution will only come when people are able to recognize and understand the reality of what Israelis and Jews face.
October 7th reminded us that Israel and Judaism face a constant and unrelenting threat. This threat does not exist because of occupation – however much we may all desire an end to Israeli control of Palestinian territories, however much we may all desire a real two-state solution, we must come to terms with the reality that the world is still not ready for Jews to have their own nation – that, Mr. Glazer, is the rumbling background noise that so many, including you, refuse to hear.
