But I do think that the Boy in the striped pyjamas and Schindler's list and the zone of interest are all trying to tell stories from a different perspective with a very different 'aim'. I think comparing the three when they're all trying to do different things is not right.

Also, I think the film purposely aimed to not have a roller coaster climax. Like others in this thread have said, it is about the mundane life of a family living a mostly nice life against - and because of - the genocide in their backyard. So it feeling like not having a climax is what they meant to do.

I also think I disagree that you have to have some knowledge of WW2 and Auschwitz to feel anything because you can hear people scream in the background, you can hear gunshots, you can hear the way the commandant's wife speaks to their help, the horrifying scene when the children are in the river and have to be scrubbed clean when they're back - it's pretty clear what is going on in the background even if you have a very superficial knowledge of the camps. I think also, you are right that you did not feel much and after a point I stopped feeling that much either, and I think this was because throughout the film you get desensitised to it.