Intro to Film 2025 • Professor Gregory Zinman • Emory University

Zone of Focus

Written by

Brendan Deparra

in

,

The film Zone of Interest opens with a long black screen accompanied only by background noises. The extended black screen at the start left me momentarily confused, thinking, “Professor Zinman should check if the site is working,” until the image of a family sitting in the grass appeared. That was the moment I realized the film demanded a deeper level of attention to be fully understood.

Much of the movie consists of wide long shots, often framed in the same setting from different angles. With minimal sound, the only noises come from the subjects within each scene. With prior knowledge of the Holocaust, the silences felt overwhelmingly loud. Everyday details, the greenhouse, white picket fence, and breakfast on the table, revealed the unsettling coexistence of ordinary life with unspeakable horror. What seemed silent was never truly silent. The depth of realism within this film creates a space for the viewer that refuses to acknowledge the events happening around them. One scene shows an older woman lying in bed as the entire room becomes submerged in a red tint, followed by her sitting at the window, looking out at the camp located in the backyard of the home. All that could be heard was the noises of misery in the distance.

Making Zone of Interest: Framing Holocaust Through 21st Century Lens:
not the scene mentioned in the paragraph***

Do you believe that individuals without much prior knowledge of the events of this time period would still be able to understand the severity of the quiet moments?

Comments

3 responses to “Zone of Focus”

  1. Sophia Oshrin Avatar
    Sophia Oshrin

    Hi Brendan!
    I agree with you about how the film pushes us to pay attention to moments that might otherwise seem empty. Even without prior knowledge of the Holocaust, I think viewers would still feel the discomfort in those quiet stretches, since the silence is so unnatural. But with historical context, that unease becomes more pointed because you know exactly what is being kept out of the frame, not just that something feels off. That gap between what we see and what we know is what makes the film so unsettling.

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  2. Kate Goldberg Avatar
    Kate Goldberg

    Hi Brendan!

    I love that you commented on the opening of this film. To me, it feels as though the title credit fading to black is the viewer’s eyes being closed, and the long sequence feels like a period of transportation to this period in the past. I think it is a uniquely powerful opening, as we are forced to sit with the unsettling reality of what we are about to encounter, and then are met with the stark contrast of the wide shot in a beautiful natural landscape. I agree with your point that it asserts a demand for deep attention.

    I also think that your comment on how “With prior knowledge of the Holocaust, the silences felt overwhelmingly loud” brings attention to the excellent use of sound, or lack thereof, in this film that I had not considered before. This film is consistently recognized for its sound achievement due to the noise behind the screen being a film in itself, but I did not consider how, when one could not hear what was happening in the camps, they were left with more space to imagine what was behind those walls. I was more struck by the louder moments: screaming, the crying baby, gunshots, and the belching score.

    To answer your question, I honestly do not know. As someone who grew up learning about the Holocaust and has seen it represented through many films, I was also consumed by this inquiry of how someone with little or vast prior knowledge may have consumed this film differently. What I can say, however, is that I hope any individual, regardless of their prior education, leaves this film with a willingness to learn more about the past and what happened behind those walls.

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  3. Teresa Martinez Gonzalez Avatar
    Teresa Martinez Gonzalez

    Hello Brendan!

    I agree with you on the wide shots and how the quiet makes everything feel so heavy. The normal stuff, such as the breakfast table and the garden, end up feeling way creepier because we know what’s outside the frame. I feel like the film is forcing us to sit in that discomfort instead of looking away, or getting lost in the scenery like the Hoss family has.

    I’m glad you brought up the red-tinted scene, because that one really stood out to me too. For me, the red almost looked like the horror outside was bleeding into the house, like the “normal” life the Hoss family built could not completely block out the horror of the camp anymore. Even though we are never shown inside the camp, I felt like including this emphasized that the camp isn’t just background noise, it is always there (even if the family pretends otherwise).

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