Son of Saul
October 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Saul Auslander (Geza Rohrig) is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from the camp and forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination. While working in one of the crematoriums, Saul discovers the corpse of a boy he takes for his son. As the Sonderkommando plans a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task; save the child’s body from the flames, find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial.
Director:
László Nemes
Cast:
Géza Röhrig
Screenplay:
László Nemes, Clara Royer
Screening Date:
Dec 05, 2015
Studio:
Sony Picture Classics
Running Time:
107 minutes
| Excellent | Very Good | Good | Fair | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 47.5% | 30.0% | 15.5% | 2.5% | 5.0% |
A harrowing film to watch, but a necessary story that must be shown before that generation dies. Soon no one will be left to tell/show the horrors of the Nazi's final solution. As a film the tight shots following Saul draws the viewer into his personal experience. I began to feel what he was feeling.
Had to close my eyes through most of this movie, but the sound effects told it all.
The choice of close-ups throughout the film in many ways makes it very uncomfortable to watch. We don't see the blackout details of the horror but the implicit horror somehow makes it stronger. Through Saul we see a too-close view of his shift once he sees his own son murdered and then his quest to bury him. Claustrophobic which intensifies the horror in the blurred background.
We seem to forget because of the continuing killing of groups of people all over the world.
Film was so depressing. I felt it had no hope at the end.
Heavy! Tough to watch.
Brilliant in concept, brilliant in realization. Harrowing, yes, but those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. And in parts of the world today, sadly, it exists.
The intense chaotic frenzied fear of the camps was brutally authentic. Why would Saul risk so much to save the dead rather than the living?
If you save one soul it's like saving the universe.
In a way it is difficult to recommend this important film enthusiastically. It is difficult to watch. But a simple, more engaging film on this theme is hard to imagine. The camera held so close onto Saul is the viewer's access in his singular experience. It is a powerful and relentless engagement for which I am both grateful and disturbed.
Although this was an important subject and a remarkable story, I felt the film somewhat difficult to follow, perhaps because of the translation, but I think it may have been the filmmaking. The hand-held camera certainly made for a more intimate experience but at the same time I felt it too claustrophobic and limiting and even distracting. While it is good to make an audience think, it is more problematic to force the audience to work to get through the movie and that is what may prevent it from being better received and will hurt word-of-mouth. This is unfortunate because the themes and the history being conveyed are valuable ones, it just needs to be perhaps less artistic.
It is frightening that such evil could exist in this world. The movie gave me chills.
Despite it being an excellent film I cannot recommend it. It is too torturous to sit through.
A boy in color, who is left alive to breathe, and a smile from Saul.
Difficult subject for me. Shreds of humanity and sanity in a dark evil insane world. Blends concepts from play/film Grey Zone and Night and Fog. Well done unique view of the horror. Almost a Passion Play--a boy, Christlike, resurrected and continuing to breathe. Final purification in water and ends with a green field/forest. Symbolic of life and cruelty of man and sometimes nature.
This film is so hard to watch--even more than my visit to Auschwitz. I haven't seen anything that so graphically displays the unspeakable cruelty and evil. A must-see to make sure we never forget!
The style of filming is on that perhaps the younger viewers--if you can get them to see the film--might identify with. In a peculiar way it's like a video game--a first-person shooter game but harrowing in it's depiction. And yet by NOT showing the unspeakable horrors, the film was incredibly affecting.
Not the best way to welcome in Hanukah. Unwatchable not because of the subject matter, because of the cinematography.
It's good to remember the Holocaust.
The subject matter dominates the filmmaking skills, but both were profoundly affecting.
Tough film to watch at this time. My three invited friends left at various times during the film. They could not watch it. The film was well done, but I can't comment on the various categories listed.
Penetrating and difficult to watch and hear. This film was superbly crafted and important. Truly the most powerful film about the Holocaust I've ever seen. All good films and narrative art ask us to see, to bear witness to some essential human reality via the lens of writer/director/editor. But this was profound in its structure and poetry. Saul is burying the dead, but planting life (as in last scene of child bearing witness). Laszlo also did this! I get it! I will not forget it.
If you'd like to know more about the film...
During the Q&A, an NPR interview with both director László Nemes and star Géza Röhrig was referenced. Here it is in its entirety: http://www.npr.org/2015/10/07/446586530/son-of-saul-brings-viewers-to-th...
Here, Ruth Schuster of Haaretz details a list of some of the best films about the Holocaust: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/holocaust-movies-10-of-the-be...
Newsweek has an article detalining the horrorific realistic portayal of a holocaust film by Hitchcock that was prevented from release: http://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/06/why-hitchcocks-horrifying-holocaust-f...
Here is the only footage of "The Day the Clown Cried", an unreleased Jerry Lewis film about the Holocaust. Due to litigation and Lewis' own wishes, the film may never be released: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJai18eys0M
