‘The Commandant’s Shadow,’ True Account of Holocaust Horrors Fictionalized in ‘The Zone of Interest,’ Unpacked by Filmmakers at Mumbai Festival
variety.comNaman Ramachandran After Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes, Oscar and BAFTA-winning “The Zone of Interest,” Daniela Volker’s “The Commandant’s Shadow” tackles the same subject – what it was like to live next door to a WWII concentration camp.
While Glazer’s film was a work of fiction, based on Martin Amis’ novel, Volker’s film is a documentary. Exploring the legacy of Auschwitz, it follows Hans-Joergen Höss, son of commandant Rudolf Höss, and grandson Kai, on an emotional journey.
Their path leads to a meeting with Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, known as the ‘cellist from Auschwitz,’ and her daughter Maya.
It features hitherto unseen archival footage and draws from Rudolf Höss’s autobiography, written shortly before his death. “The Commandant’s Shadow” played at Israel’s Docaviv festival where it won the Yad Vashem Award for outstanding Holocaust-related documentary.
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