The weekend before we speak, Germany’s streets are filled with protesters outraged by the news that the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, now riding high in the polls, attended secret meetings with neo-Nazis to discuss the mass deportation of migrants from the country. Friedel expresses pride that his film enters the political discourse at such a moment, though he’s keen to stress its message extends well beyond the country’s borders.
” As the spectre of fascism returns to Europe, the poison of groups like the AfD is infecting the political mainstream. That poison surfaces in the closing moments of The Zone of Interest, with a scene where Höss feels suddenly nauseous then ambitious, in a Kubrickian cut that demolishes the ironic distance at the core of Glazer’s film. “I was so afraid to do this scene because I was searching for the right body language, and the body always tells the truth,” says Friedel.