(https://i.imgur.com/rwjYWT7.png)
Studio: A24
Release Date: 7/19/2024
Rating: PG-13
Film Grade: B
The Story: Rudolf and Hedwig live in a stately manor, with every need attended to by servants and staff. There’s plenty for their five children to do, with a large yard, beautiful garden, toys a plenty, and even an outdoor pool. It’s an idyllic existence.
Or so it seems.
You see it’s 1943 and Rudolf is Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz. Their home is built next to the concentration camp, separated only by a wall. Evidence of the atrocities taking place there are seen and heard each moment of every day, permeating their very existence.
My Take: This is not a traditional narrative film. There’s no beginning, middle, and end, just a middle and a short pseudo epilogue. Consider it a slice of life during one of the most treacherous and evil periods in modern world history. I wasn’t sure if I “got” the movie after watching it, but after watching the extras, it turns out I did understand what the director was trying to do.
Instead of the typical way that Holocaust stories are depicted in movies, this shows a different side, focusing on the everyday events in the lives of the perpetrators. It doesn’t treat them as stereotypical over-the-top villains, rather it shows some of the relatable events they go through. This does not mean that they are portrayed sympathetically in any way. Often their actions are caustically reprehensible, such as when they greedily go through the last belongings of the recently killed, snatching material goodies. The display of callousness is revolting to the audience, yet the actions are understandable, even if it’s not the choice any of us would want to make.
Renowned German precision and efficiency is shown early in the movie, but applied to the most nefarious of mechanisms, and discussed in a shockingly straightforward manner. It causes the audience to wonder how anyone could speak with such coldness about other human beings. The dispassion about anything other than pure productivity makes it all the more chilling.
Performances are totally natural. Christian Friedel plays Rudolf as a calculating manager, both obsessed with increasing processing rates and deeply prideful of the results, even if he lacks the kinds of social skills needed for personal advancement. Sandra Hüller (seen earlier in Anatomy of a Fall) gives Hedwig a cold and ruthless demeanor, willfully ignorant of the suffering that allowed them to reside in their house. Her love for Rudolf has given way to her love of lifestyle. All of the characters are portrayed in a realistic way, illustrating how seemingly normal people could live normal lives, willfully ignoring the destruction of another race.
And that’s director Jonathan Glazer’s goal, to show how relatable people could be wholly complacent in the unthinkable. It’s meant as a cautionary tale to guard against repeating those events in the future. The question is how effective that message is, and whether or not it works that way. While we do get a good impression of what their lives were like at that time, the strong underlying element of repulsion knowing what they had to have known, creates too strong of a barrier to be effective.
Adding to that, we don’t get an actual ending, so we don’t find out if justice was ever meted out for their actions. Not that any punishment could match their horrible actions, but it felt like there should have been some kind of resolution at the end.
Here’s where it does work: The epilogue I mentioned comes abruptly near the end of the movie, in a totally unexpected way. And it works extremely well. Not giving away any details, I’ll just say that it hits hard and is the most effective part of the movie, and it works because of everything we’ve seen up until then.
Visuals: No, your player or display are not defective. There’s about two minutes right after the start of the movie where the screen turns completely black, with a shorter segment doing the same thing right before the start of the end credits. Music and other sounds play during that time, so there’s no need to worry, but I had to check and make sure that my projector didn’t conk out.
Glazer used an unusual setup for this movie. Multiple cameras were stage around the various places, hidden in the setting, almost like a reality TV show, without anyone operating them. After capture, multiple reels of footage were cut and merged into the movie. The process did make it feel natural and was surprisingly effective. Picture quality itself is fine, with natural light being used to its advantage. Colors lean to drab blue and gray tones, with green contrast provided by the garden setting. There’s a light haze that hangs over many of the outdoor scenes.
Audio: The Blu-ray features a simple 5.1 mix, which is a shame. In the extras, sound designer Johnnie Burn explains how they painstakingly researched how to capture all of the sounds involved as realistically as possible. It may take the audience a few minutes to realize what the constant, dull, deep rumble is but once heard it cannot be ignored.
More obvious are the occasional distant gunshots and cries of terror. The camp’s victims aren’t shown, but they are heard, and act as a persistent reminder of the horror that lies just over the wall that separates the Höss’ house from the death chambers and furnaces next door. It’s truly unnerving and constantly unsettling, winning an Oscar this year for Best Sound. To get the full effect, the 4K disc is supposed to feature the Atmos mix.
Accompanying it is a score by Mica Levi, who collaborated with Glazer on Under the Skin. It’s a bold soundtrack filled with dissonance and noise, providing deep contrast to many of the more mundane events of the film, echoing its frantic and jittery underlying themes. I think it works well in conjunction with the rest of the mix, but it may not work as well for those who prefer a more traditional and less risky musical score.
Special Features: The bonus features are unfortunately short. While they provide some interesting tidbits about the film’s production, they’re lacking in information about the subject matter. You can find them all on YouTube, posted by the studios involved. The 4K disc appears to have better material in this regard.
- 'A Rare Perspective' Featurette
- 'On the Soil' Featurette
- 'Uncomfortable Reflections' Featurette
- Theatrical Trailer
Final Verdict: Although it won the 2024 Oscar for Best International Feature Film, along with a host of other awards, this isn’t an easy movie to recommend. It mostly worked for me, even if the ending feels unrealized. It wouldn’t have taken much to add a minute of film to offer a summary about the Rudolf’s fate. Sure, it can easily be looked up with a web search but including it would have added a feeling of closure. But closure wasn’t necessarily the goal, as I think the director wanted viewers to stew on the events and feelings of the film, not allowing one to forget it after the credits roll.
Still, it’s that epilogue that did it for me. That short segment solidified the impact of what we didn’t see in the film and did it in a deeply touching way.
Only recommended for viewers interested in a different take on what was going on in the lives during a time of the most horrible of atrocities.
Fun Fact: One of the highlights of the movie is the family’s dog, Dilla, who’s always appears full of life, energy, and joy. She has a particular affinity for Hedwig, which isn’t a surprise, since she’s the personal dog of actress Sandra Hüller.
Here’s a rare instance of a trailer that doesn’t give away too much, but does convey a good sense of what the movie is like:
https://youtu.be/GFNtVaAuVYY
My Review System:
JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Oppo BDP-93
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup