Son of Saul
Go! A powerful and personal Holocaust story.
Prisoner's mission to bury son.
It cleaned up in awards season, winning the Grand Prix at Cannes and Best Foreign-Language film at the Oscars, the Golden Globes and virtually every other prize-giving going. Illustrious as it may be, just as with the onset of spring (why is it snowing in May?!), we in the UK have been made to do what we’re renowned for doing – waiting patiently, if desperately, for it to arrive in cinemas. Given its success, it is remarkable that Son of Saul is the first feature film by 39-year-old Hungarian director, László Nemes, who may now need to buy a bigger house, just to display all of the awards he has won. But upon seeing the film, what becomes immediately unremarkable is its ubiquitous success. It is so striking; in so many ways, that it becomes the kind of film that you both hope and worry may never leave your mind’s eye.
Set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, Jewish-Hungarian, Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig) is part of a “Sonderkommando” – a work squad within the concentration camp. These groups of men were forced to dispose of other prisoners’ corpses, the horrendous paradox being that this was the only reason they were allowed to survive. When Saul recognises the body of a young boy as that of his son, he begins a quest to find a Rabbi within the camp and somehow give him a proper, Jewish burial; just as a burgeoning escape plot within the camp is nearing fruition.
Set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, Jewish-Hungarian, Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig) is part of a “Sonderkommando” – a work squad within the concentration camp. These groups of men were forced to dispose of other prisoners’ corpses, the horrendous paradox being that this was the only reason they were allowed to survive. When Saul recognises the body of a young boy as that of his son, he begins a quest to find a Rabbi within the camp and somehow give him a proper, Jewish burial; just as a burgeoning escape plot within the camp is nearing fruition.
In itself, the harrowing synopsis draws the dark outline of a potentially powerful movie. But it is the way in which it is shot, matched with Röhrig’s incredibly composed and profound performance, which turns Son of Saul into an astounding film.
Virtually all of Son of Saul is narrowly focused, the camera directly positioned on Saul’s face or the back of his head. It is only around him, in blurred colours and shapes, that the horrors of the concentration camp take place – limp, beige bodies dragged across grey concrete; yellow flames, dense smoke and the sound of gunfire. The film then becomes very much about Saul and not his environment, although the terrible situation he lives in is constantly conveyed through those peripheral glimpses and his weathered, heavy and stoic facial expressions. For much of the film, his face is covered with a film of grey, cremation ash – the atrocity literally coating his every frown. His occasional conversations with others prisoners are always spoken in strained whispers and, as if the intensity was not enough, it is filmed in a virtually square 1.3:1 aspect ratio, making Saul’s face inescapably fill the screen. The tension, weight and urgency are unrelenting.
Virtually all of Son of Saul is narrowly focused, the camera directly positioned on Saul’s face or the back of his head. It is only around him, in blurred colours and shapes, that the horrors of the concentration camp take place – limp, beige bodies dragged across grey concrete; yellow flames, dense smoke and the sound of gunfire. The film then becomes very much about Saul and not his environment, although the terrible situation he lives in is constantly conveyed through those peripheral glimpses and his weathered, heavy and stoic facial expressions. For much of the film, his face is covered with a film of grey, cremation ash – the atrocity literally coating his every frown. His occasional conversations with others prisoners are always spoken in strained whispers and, as if the intensity was not enough, it is filmed in a virtually square 1.3:1 aspect ratio, making Saul’s face inescapably fill the screen. The tension, weight and urgency are unrelenting.
Yet, there is sensitivity to the film that makes it impossible not to keep watching, even among a real-life dystopia that might otherwise urge you to look away. With Saul as a visual constant, he and his mission become a necessary comfort to an exposed audience, and a distraction from all that is going on around him. It somehow manages to be horrific without being horrifying; pained without being painful; disturbed without being disturbing. This is Nemes’ great achievement - to have masterfully moderated those feelings by dosing us with just enough to keep us on edge and convey the great tragedy, but not enough to knock us unconscious. The cumulative effect is that, come the end of the film, you will indeed be horrified, pained and disturbed in equal measure, but only because Nemes ensured you could sit through the whole thing; guided by the tender and emotional story of a man simply seeking to bury a boy, spurred on by love, duty and his belief in the very religious and cultural values that he is being persecuted for.
So go. It is a tremendous achievement of film-making – one that will be studied and poured over for years to come. It will take you to the depths of despair far more than uplifting highs, but will move you in the rare way that only truly outstanding films can. Not showing near you? Find it to rent and buy on various streaming platforms now.
So go. It is a tremendous achievement of film-making – one that will be studied and poured over for years to come. It will take you to the depths of despair far more than uplifting highs, but will move you in the rare way that only truly outstanding films can. Not showing near you? Find it to rent and buy on various streaming platforms now.
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