Films > Film Reviews

Son of Saul

03/05/16

Son of Saul is a film that deals with one of the most atrocious events in history and delivers the story in such a rewarding and powerful way.

It’s1944 and we're in Auschwitz for a day and a half as we follow Saul (Geza Rohrig). He’s a Hungarian man of Jewish faith and unfortunately he's a victim of the Sonderkommando; prisoners made to work for the German camps for fear of their own deaths. We follow Saul as he sees a dying boy and takes him as his own son. 

It's clear to see why this Hungarian drama won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It's gripping, unsettling and it doesn't let you go. The horrors of concentration camps are truly felt in this movie; the noise, dirt, bodies, all come into the fold to get under your skin and make you understand in some very small way what atrocities happened. 

Laszlo Nemes is incredible for his debut film. It's unflinching because it doesn't gloss over anything. In fact Nemes gives this story a uniquely personal touch as we stay with Saul for the duration. The extreme close up’s and frame ratio both create a gnawing claustrophobia that gives the camp a nasty enclosed sense. 

Similarly to The Revenant, the style of this film is unbroken. A lot of scenes are left uncut and the camera moves around the space letting moments play out. Having people dying in the background or a character staring silently for a long time really burrows into your mind; there is no escape like the victims of the German officers. We can of course never get close to feeling what they felt but this story does an unforgettable thing as it throws us amongst the carnage. 

Nemes and Clara Royer both wrote this screenplay and it’s heavy from start to finish. Just the beginning sees the mass of people being queued into a building, which you know can only end gravely. The script is less about the dialogue which means we never lose focus from the horrendous visuals. Any words spoken play an important part in the desperate rush for Saul to try and peacefully bury a boy or other characters sparking off an uprising to hopefully break free from their captors.

This is a thoroughly deserving movie of its praise and award glory. It's a difficult watch and extremely raw but it's a serious topic and handled seriously by an impressive director to keep an eye on. 

8/10