The Zone of Interest | 2023 | PG-13 | – 3.5.1

Why is “The Zone of Interest” rated PG-13? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “thematic material, some suggestive material and smoking.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implied sex scene, people wearing swimwear with partial nudity, an ever-present rumble accompanied by people screaming and gunshots in the distance, many scenes of smoke and ash billowing from chimneys, discussions of improving the efficiency of incinerators, several arguments, and some mild language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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The lives of Nazi Rudolf Höss (Christian Friedel), who was the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp for four years during the Holocaust, and of his wife (Sandra Hüller) and children, are depicted as they enjoy pleasant domesticity while on the other side of a tall wall framed by barbed wire are the constant sounds of death and suffering and smoke from incinerators. Also with Johann Karthaus, Luis Noah Witte, Nele Ahrensmeier, Lilli Falk, Anastazja Drobniak, Cecylia Pekala, Kalman Wilson, Medusa Knopf, Max Beck and Slava the Dog. Directed by Jonathan Glazer. In German and Polish with English subtitles. [Running Time: 1:45]

The Zone of Interest SEX/NUDITY 3

 – A young woman enters a man’s office, removes her shoes and lets her hair down; when the man gets off the phone, he looks at her suggestively and the scene ends (sex is implied); the man later goes to a remote washroom and lowers his pants to wash his genitals (we see his bare upper thigh).
► Two teenagers seem to be kissing and caressing in the backyard of a house. A husband and his wife sleep in separate beds; we see the man’s bare shoulders as they talk.
► Men, a woman and children are seen wearing swimsuits that reveal the woman’s cleavage, the outline of a man’s genitals, men’s bare chests, abdomens, backs and legs, and a woman’s partial buttock in a few scenes. A man has a medical exam and we see him on an exam table wearing boxer shorts (his bare chest, abdomen and legs are visible). Women wear low-cut dresses that reveal cleavage and bare shoulders at a party.

The Zone of Interest VIOLENCE/GORE 5

 – There is an ever-present rumble and sounds of people screaming and pleading and gunfire in the background throughout the movie; we also see many scenes of chimneys with flames and thick smoke billowing from the top. We see a museum being cleaned for visitors and there are mounds of shoes and possessions behind glass viewing walls, and we see ovens where people were incinerated. A boy looks at and handles human teeth and we see that some have gold fillings and bridgework.
► A man fishes in a river and we see a cloud of ash floating near him; he is startled when he reaches into the water and pulls out a human jawbone and scrambles to get his children out of the water; we see them being scrubbed and bathed later and a ring of gray ash and soot is shown in the tub. A woman gags and closes the windows when chimneys in the distance belch out smoke and flames; thick ash that resembles snow floats in the air as the woman struggles to take laundry in from clotheslines.
► We hear a person screaming and a man calling out for someone to “drown him in the river” after the person was fighting over an apple. Soldiers on horseback yell and charge through fields presumably rousting laborers (we can’t see them through the tall grass).
► A house shares its backyard with a very tall wall with barbed wire on top and beyond the wall is the Auschwitz concentration camp. A teen girl places apples in a muddy trench at night and later places fruit near shovels where laborers would be working the next day; she then cautiously rides her bike near guards that patrol the area. An older boy picks up a younger boy, puts him in a greenhouse, and then locks the door; the younger boy yells for him to let him out. A woman seems exhausted while caring for an infant that doesn’t seem to sleep well.
► A woman tries on a full-length fur coat that belonged to a Holocaust victim; she finds a partially used lipstick in a pocket and puts some of it on. A man delivers parcels containing clothing items from Holocaust victims that had been taken to the camp; a woman places the items on a table and calls her servants to come and choose one item each. A young boy wears a Hitler youth outfit with a swastika on the armband. After first being impressed by her daughter’s home, a woman seems to be disturbed by what is taking place beyond a tall wall and leaves.
► Several men discuss a plan to transport 700,000 people from Hungary to concentration camps and that it will be a difficult process. Several men discuss the operation of newly designed incinerators that would hold up to 500 people at a time and would be more efficient than what they currently use. A man says, “He won’t put them all up the chimney,” and “You’ll get your workers.” A husband tells his wife that he was thinking about how to gas people at a party and realizes the process would be tricky because the ceilings of the building are so high. A woman talks about finding a diamond in a tube of toothpaste and says, “They [Jews] are very clever.” Women talk about another woman having been beaten by her husband and that she has bruises. A man dictates a letter reprimanding someone for destroying his lilac bushes while picking the flowers and calls for punishment. A man tells his young children the story of “Hansel and Gretel” at bedtime and says the witch was put in the oven and was cooked alive. A woman yells at her husband and he walks away from her; she follows him, they argue about relocating and she tells him that she will stay in their home with their children and he can go without them. A woman yells at a servant and threatens to have her husband burn her in one scene. Children argue in a few scenes.
► A man gags and retches a couple of times before spitting on the floor (we do not see goo). A husband makes sounds like “oink-oink” when his wife snorts while laughing.

The Zone of Interest LANGUAGE 1

 – 2 mild obscenities, name-calling (boring, Jewess, busy bee), exclamations (calm down, stop, bloody [mild obscenity deleted]), 3 religious exclamations (e.g. my God, God knows, thank God). | profanity glossary |

The Zone of Interest SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man is poured a glass of liquor that he uses to toast to his birthday and he drinks it, men and women drink champagne and brandy at a party, and a woman drinks from bottles in a nursery a few scenes (it is not clear if it is liquor). A man smokes a cigar in a few scenes, men and women smoke cigarettes and cigars at a party, and a woman and a man smoke cigarettes in a greenhouse.

The Zone of Interest DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Auschwitz, Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, struggles, sacrifice, selfishness.

The Zone of Interest MESSAGE

 – Evil is truly banal.