The Zone of Interest (2023)
Writer and Director: Jonathan Glazer
Actors: Chrisitan Friedel (Rudolf Hoss), Sandra Huller (Hedwig Hoss), Julia Polaczek (Aleksandra Bystron-Kolodziejczyk)
Dear Friend,
Years ago, when I was looking to get a cat, I showed up at a woman’s house because she told me to. “I have the perfect cat for you,” she said. She fostered several, and she had taken me aside one afternoon at a pet store to tell me I should come over.
I arrived at her house with my then-boyfriend. I hoped he could give me a good second-opinion on cat-picking. It was Christmas Eve, and it was the last day I had to get a cat for my daughter before Christmas morning.
The woman was weird, and it became clear from the first moment she opened the door that she was playing some kind of game with us. What did it matter, though, if I was able to walk away with a cool cat? The woman led us down the stairs and into her little cat room, and I knew immediately that the cat she’d chosen for me was not my cat. The cat was too skinny and not my vibe. I looked around at the other cats she had in the room, and asked about another one or two she was fostering. She quickly told me they weren’t available, and she looked closely into my eyes. When I told her that the particular cat she’d selected didn’t feel right for me, I saw immediately that she felt personally insulted and rejected. Rejecting the cat meant I was rejecting her. I saw it all in her eyes. And then she lost her temper.
My boyfriend at the time (God, I loved him) promptly got into an argument with her. “Who do you think you are, talking to us this way?” he said. But I told him this wasn’t a worthy use of our time. This woman was clearly wounded and would continue to be wounded, and there was nothing anybody was going to say to change that. There was no winning an argument here, and what was the point anyway? I had this one day to find a cat I wanted to take home. But the woman continued yelling at us, and especially at him. “What do you do to help other people?” she screamed at my boyfriend like a green-faced wicked witch. “Do you see me fostering these cats? What animals are you taking care of in your free time? I’m a good person. You’re not a good person!”
He was completely confused, and leaning toward her to engage in the argument, but I kept pulling his arm out of the room. I just wanted to wish her all the healing and happiness in the world and get in the car, and not have to see the woman again. Finally, when he realized she was a lost cause, we made our way up the stairs and outside, with her yelling at us the whole way. It was a really weird day for a variety of reasons, and it was also kind of funny, like we were in an episode of Portlandia. But I knew it was not a funny or small issue to the woman. To her, we were clearly abusive people who wasted her time. We were not good people because we didn’t agree with her, and we didn’t do what she wanted. Her victimhood and woundedness were the size of the universe, and people either fit under her control mechanisms, or they were evil and horrible.
There are people like this all over the world, and this is what we must grapple with when it comes to our understanding of “right” and “wrong,” “good” and “evil.” How do you recognize evil, when we live in a world that is consistently dividing us into teams and sides and tribes? When we do it to each other and to ourselves? The more we hold up our wounds and our pain as our only stories, and our badges of honor, and call ourselves victims—even in moments when we truly are—the more the battles continue and rage. We can get stuck in our losses and pain and forget the good graces we have, which are our wins. My boyfriend wanted to win that argument with the woman. I just wanted to move on, because I knew that with people like her, you can’t win. They are lost, and they secretly love their pain more than they love others, and it is better to simply say thank you, no thank you, I wish you well, and goodbye.
I watched The Zone of Interest, written and directed by Jonathan Glazer, with respect. It won the Academy Award for best International Feature Film this year. It is a harrowing movie, told in an artistically dramatic and unique way. I was not bored for a single moment, and the style was gripping. Everything was well done, and it makes sense that this film would win such an award. It speaks to the darkness in humanity as a new warning cry. I know these stories need to be told, but I also want us to know how to handle the evil in our midst, and I’m not sure many filmmakers are tackling that. I think we have to find out how evil starts as a seed, and where it begins, what people believe, what they will fight for, and why. Without learning how to grow in compassion, and without calling sickness what it is, we can give the sickness a lot of power, which is what happened in Hitler’s Germany. It is what happens now in many places, and what happened in America’s colonization as well. Continual violence and theft against groups or people because they are different is sickness. The people perpetrating the actions are ill. And when they have authority, and money and power and prestige, and teach impressionable minds, and have far-reaching influence, we see the seeds of evil grow. We see convincement start to happen, even when it defies natural order. The vulnerable respond by looking around, wanting answers. If all they see and experience are people nodding and smiling, saying “This is the way it is done,” evil spreads like fire.
We are all responsible for ourselves. We are all responsible for our own actions. We may be misguided at times, but as Maya Angelou says, “When you know better, you do better.” Some people know better, and they don’t do better. They justify and shame and blame and make excuses. They deflect responsibility. They brainwash and traumatize and manipulate other people to keep a status.
Evil exists, and has always existed, and has a certain way of operating. Call it what it is, and also, don’t give it more energy and attention than you give goodness. Don’t become obsessed with evil. Just keep falling in love. Make art, and your life, and your choices, from the deeply rooted love-place.
This is how you win.
By the way, I ended up with a really awesome cat that Christmas Eve. I traveled a bit further, and went to a pet store my mom suggested. As soon as I walked in and saw my cat, I knew she was the right fit for me. I didn’t need anyone else’s opinion, because when something feels good and slips into place, it speaks for itself. I brought her home, and she and I are living happily ever after.
Bisous,
Ms. Wonderful