Then the Sonderkommando collects their valuables for the Germans, discards the clothing, and removes the corpses (called “pieces” by the Germans) from the gas chambers. ![]() At the start of the film, Saul, with this group, ushers Jews from the dressing (or, rather, undressing) rooms where they leave their clothing and valuables, into what are called showers and are actually gas chambers. In the camp-which is both a concentration camp for slave labor and an extermination camp-Saul is a member of a Sonderkommando, a squad of Jews ordered by the German overlords to facilitate the killing of other Jews. It was when Hungarian Jews arrived that the pace of murder in Auschwitz greatly accelerated-and when the Soviet Army was rumored to be approaching. Its protagonist is Saul Ausländer (played by Géza Röhrig), a Jew who has been deported from his native Hungary, from which the mass deportation of Jews only occurred in 1944. “Son of Saul” takes place almost entirely in Auschwitz-Birkenau, late in the Second World War-and that timing matters. To the extent that it’s an immediate cinematic experience, it’s a daring but tasteless jumble of stylistic flourishes and dramatic intentions. ![]() A fantastic first for both director László Nemes and lead Géza Röhrig.To the extent that it’s a gloss on ideas from Claude Lanzmann’s “Shoah” and his later films, László Nemes’s first feature, “Son of Saul” (which opened December 25th), is a revealing alignment of symbolic gestures. It is horrifying and unbearable at times, but is absolutely unique and utterly phenomenal to watch. And I was completely and utterly entranced. To have the viewer in complete empathy with what is happening to the characters as the movie progresses. That is the true goal of cinema I believe. This is when I cease to remember that I am at the cinema watching a movie unfold before me, and for quite some time, believe that I am right there, bearing witness to these events. It achieved something that I very rarely experience during a film. It is very difficult, or rather naught and impossible, to comprehend the level of horror prisoners had to live through during the extermination of their own race, but that is where this film is most successful. There is a definition of such groups at the beginning of the film, and it tells very plainly what their duties were, under threat of death. Son of Saul is a much more personal and heart-wrenching story of one prisoner who works under a Sonderkommando labour groups within the walls of Auschwitz Birkenau. Usually these films, like "Schindler's List" focus on some savior and the survivors of such events, or even worse movies like "Heart's War" which fictionalizes a history that is almost insulting to watch. Most films about the genocide of the Jewish race during the holocaust have a very broad perspective, showing multiple events to various people who were living through one of the worst horrors man has ever inflicted upon man. The story is actually a short one, it takes place in only about a day and a half, but the content of this story is what makes it stand out so brilliantly. I was sometimes glad that you couldn't see some of the horrors that were happening all around the main character, but you can tell very plainly what's happening. ![]() ![]() This unique and somewhat unprofessional style is an absolute benefit to the overall story that unfolds before the audience. There is only one focal point throughout the film, which means people and objects that are close to the camera are in focus, and everything in the background remains out of focus (except for a few shots where we do not center on Saul). Shot in 35mm, each shot does not fill the screen. By now, many of you have read about the unique style and focus of the film. What I witnessed was one of the most difficult and trying pieces about the Holocaust, and a bond between father and son during the most horrific circumstances. I walked into the theater having no idea what the subject matter was, or read any reviews, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Few movies have affected me on such a deep and emotional level like Son of Saul.
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