Though it is one of the most acclaimed movies of the year, The Zone of Interest is certainly not one of the easier movies to watch. Despite coming in at a very reasonable one hour and 45 minutes, the Jonathan Glazer movie puts you through the emotional ringer, so you can be forgiven if you are left with some questions regarding The Zone of Interest ending. We're here to help.
The Zone of Interest is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Martin Amis. The movie tells the story of the real-life Höss family, whose patriarch Rudolf Höss (played by Christian Friedel) was the Nazi officer in charge of the Auschwitz concentration camp, and their lives living in a house right up against the fences.
Most of what we see is the daily goings on of the Höss family, including Rudolf's wife Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) showing off the finer things in life the family is enjoying, like a new canoe, a fur coat and the pristine garden area that they have made. However, always just in the periphery is the camp.
About mid-way through the story shifts as the Höss family begins to have some issues. Most notably, Rudolf is being transferred to a new position, but Hedwig is adamant she not be forced to leave the home she has built and they are raising their children in. So it is arranged that Hedwig can stay at their home while Rudolf heads to his new position, with the ultimate goal of being able to return to live with his family.
How does all this play out? Read on for our breakdown of The Zone of Interest ending. Haven't seen the movie, here's when and where you can watch The Zone of Interest.
What does the flash forward in The Zone of Interest mean?
Once Rudolf goes to his new position, the movie focuses on him as he does his job, all with the intention of getting the higher-ups to send him back to his family. Eventually, his work is recognized and he is given his wish by his superiors. He calls Hedwig to tell her the good news and is on his way out of the building when he gets sick, vomiting on the floor. Is Rudolf suffering from something now that he finally can reconnect with his family?
Just then, the movie inserts a flash forward. We see Auschwitz in the modern day, as a historical site. Employees clean the facilities that were used as the gas chambers (which Rudolf went over the plans for earlier in the movie), as well as other parts of the museum, including displays that show suitcases and shoes that belonged to many of the Jewish people that were unjustly interned and killed at Auschwitz in The Holocaust. After a couple of minutes, the scene returns to Rudolf, as he recovers and continues to leave down the darkened stairs.
What does this flash-forward scene mean? The Höss family never shows remorse about the atrocities going on right on their doorstep — to the contrary, they are benefitting from the situation — but it's difficult for us as an audience to ignore what is going on behind the scenes while the story plays out at Auschwitz. However, the final act of the movie does not take place there, but rather at Rudolf's new posting, where the sounds and sights of the camp are gone completely. All we see is Rudolf, lonely as he is separated from those he loves most. Then, he receives his order to return home and everything is seemingly going to be right again. In a normal story, this would be a moment of happiness, but Glazer makes sure that doesn't creep in.
Our interpretation of the flash forward is Glazer wanted to remind viewers that this man who we've been watching for the last hour and a half was someone who contributed to the mass execution of Jewish people. It is there to help emphasize the movie's overall message that we should not act like everything is normal when horrible things are occurring, which was sadly often the case in Germany during Hitler's reign.
What happens to the Höss family?
Again, after the flash forward, Rudolf composes himself and continues to walk down the darkened stairs and presumably later back to Hedwig and his family. There are no title cards at the end of the movie explaining what happened to Rudolf Höss, so let us fill in some of the details.
Höss was largely responsible for the development of the gas chambers at Auschwitz which led the camp to becoming the epicenter of the mass killings of the Jewish people during World War Two.
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum says that more than 1.1 million people died at Auschwitz, including nearly one million Jews. In 1944, an SS report called Höss "a true pioneer" for the methods he used in mass execution.
When the war turned and the Soviet Army was approaching in 1945, Höss went into hiding in Germany under a different name but was eventually arrested. He was tried and sentenced to death in 1947.
An interview in The Washington Post from 2013 with one of the Höss children (Brigitte) provides some additional context to what happened to the rest of the family. She detailed how they were largely shunned and struggled in post-war Germany.
The Zone of Interest is now playing in select US movie theaters. It releases in the UK on February 2, 2024.
