Amazon Prime war film hailed 'the best' by Steven Spielberg leaves viewers in tears

A heartbreaking war film available on has been lauded by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg. Over the years, the Holocaust has been depicted in a number of heart-wrenching films, including cinematic landmarks like The Pianist and Spielberg's Schindler's List. One of the latest additions to this genre is The Zone of Interest, released in 2023, which follows German Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig, who live with their family in a home unsettlingly close to the concentration camp.

The notorious Nazi death camp was the site where over a million individuals, predominantly Jews, were brutally murdered, many in gas chambers. While the film shies away from graphically depicting the atrocities next door, the chilling sounds of genocide are ever-present. The historical drama, based on Martin Amis's book of the same name, is written and directed by Jonathan Glazer and stars Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller as Rudolg and Hedwig.

The synopsis reads: "In 1943, the commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife, Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house right next to the concentration and extermination camp he helped create."

The Zone of Interest was a contender for five Oscars at the 2024 Academy Awards, securing wins for Best International Feature and Best Sound.

The film was praised by American filmmaker Spielberg, 78, who branded it "the best holocaust movie since his own".

"The Zone of Interest is the best Holocaust movie I've witnessed since my own. It's doing a lot of good work in raising awareness, especially about the banality of evil," he said.

And it's not just Spielberg commending the film as viewers have taken to social media to express their own admiration for the masterpiece.

One wrote: "I watched The Zone of Interest last night and despite everything I'd heard I still wasn't prepared for the impact it had on me."

Another echoed: "There has never been a movie like The Zone of Interest. Jonathan Glazer will be remembered for making this historical landmark of a film and he personally shouldn't go home empty handed!"

A third agreed: "On a rewatch I really think The Zone of Interest is one of the best films I've ever seen."

Sharing the emotional toll the film took on them, another penned: "THE ZONE OF INTEREST is the most Major film of the year, both in concept and how it handles it on a formal level."

A sixth said: "When I watched The Zone of Interest today I was fighting back actual tears at the last 20 minutes. It might be film of the century."