Review of Son of Saul (2015) by David J — 02 Jan 2016

'Son of Saul' might be the best holocaust movie ever made and one of the finest films of 2015. It focuses on one man's emotional journey for human dignity in the hell of the Nazi's Auschwitz death camp.

We follow Saul a "Sonderkommando" one of laborers who guide the new arrivals into the gas chambers, remove bodies afterwards, sort through possessions, then cremate the bodies. After a boy miraculously survives the gas chamber, if only for several minutes, Saul embraces him as his own son.

He then sets out to find a rabbi who can give this child a proper Jewish burial. Utilizing long takes and hand held camera moving closely through the crowed dark interiors we experience the mechanics of death machine, the hushed broken community and a secret underground plotting.

Saul's narrative is interwoven with the planning and execution of the historical Sonderkommando revolt of Oct. 7, 1944. Five out of five stars for this Hungarian film.