Adarsh Singh

Spoilers ahead. View the extremely driven high ranking SS commandant of the largest death and slavery camp the German fascists created, at home with his aspirant wife and young family. A home next to a hell which he not only willingly takes part in but actively creates and she enjoys the spoils. But can even such gouls live a normal life right next to such an unspeakable hell ? That is a question the director seems to ask. The psychopathic adults bar one can do so with no problem and we see the kids are learning to. There are many excellent features to this film namely extreme juxtaposition of country idyll and pounding industrial noise,kids laughter and play with gunshots,barking and distant shouting and screams and a beautiful garden of flowers with hellfire smoke and barbed wire somewhere above the ever-present mid-screen barrier hiding the atrocities. We see these gouls gossip and laugh and almost find ourselves trying to see some humanity in their everyday household life,some connection,but that is soon lost when their evil reappears in a comment or action.The garden flower scene almost becomes a beautiful respite momentarily until the focus turns to the red flowers only and hits you like a slap with a dramatic pure red screen mirroring the ever present underlying horror that no amount of children's laugher,summer sun or colourful flowers in bloom can veil. There is a glimpse of humanity in the night vision scene which is done brilliantly and is another noteworthy juxtaposition. The scene of her hurriedly hiding fruit with the ghost like train steam clouds in the background is beautifully composed ( as are many other scenes)and memorably dramatic as the horror of 3000 men, women and children crammed in it hits you. The brutality is relentless even though none is graphically shown it's there in threats,comments,uniforms,smoke ,gunfire,barking dogs, attitudes, callousness and barbed wire.Seeing this in the movie theater I got a real sense from the open shots showing the skyline, of a huge spawling Hieronymus bosch style hell beyond that wall which dwarfs the SS gouls home and large garden. This is a subtle psychological study of our humanity like Jonathan Glazer's previous film ,the excellent Under The Skin. A very apt theme in both movies as it is that which we don't see but which dictates all we do see.Another device he uses in both is the hidden camera which provides such natural realism to both movies and his sound folk provide an absolutely perfect fit emotionally,which reminds me of the groundbreaking psychological use of sound in the 1985 Soviet masterpiece Come And See. I adore originality and psychology in art and Glazer's work provide both in a abundance.