Steven Spielberg made what some might consider the definitive Hollywood film about the Holocaust — 1993’s “Schindler’s List,” a powerful black-and-white masterpiece that took home several Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director. Using his unique cinematic eye, Spielberg staged several harrowing set pieces that unflinchingly show the atrocities of the Nazis against the Jewish people. It’s a difficult film to watch, but it’s also an important movie — and one of Spielberg’s best.
THR recently published an oral history of “Schindler’s List,” and during the course of the piece, Spielberg actually singles out “The Zone of Interest.” “‘The Zone of Interest’ is the best Holocaust movie I’ve witnessed since my own,” he says. “It’s doing a lot of good work in raising awareness, especially about the banality of evil.” There have been other Holocaust films since “Schindler’s List,” many of them quite effective, but it’s significant of Spielberg to hold “The Zone of Interest” up against his own masterpiece.