Review of Son of Saul (2015) by Mark H — 03 Jan 2016

4 out of 5 stars. Impressive first film by Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes, who may well win the 2015 Foreign Oscar next monh. This is a film that will stir debate because it uses an innovative style of filmmaking that's almost exhilarating, while the subject matter of the Holocaust is sacred ground to many people. The handheld camerawork is entirely shot in tight closeup or just behind the main actor's head, so you experience what he's seeing while he races through life and death situations that change in real time.

It's kind of a "Run Lola Run" style of filmmaking in a "Schindler's List" situation, which some people may find offensive and others find immersive.

The expected horror of Auschwitz is mostly all peripheral and out of focus because of the shallow depth of field employed by the filmmaker's choice of wide camera lenses shooting close, to immerse the viewer in Saul's world. It's the sounds of what he's experiencing that create the intensity of the death camp, so by never pulling back wide, the film leaves much of the horror to the audience's imagination, which is very effective. There are plenty of awful sights just out of focus or partially seen however, including a handful of scenes that are as intense as any film ever made about the death camps.

Saul is a Hungarian Jew, working in the Sonderkommando class in Auschwitz, the laborers who led other Jews to the gas chambers and later were considered Nazi collaborators for betraying their own people. Over the course of the film, Saul participates in every step of the Nazi "treatment" of the unwanted people from transport to death to disposal. He sees a young teenager almost survive the gas chamber & spends most of the film trying to get the boy a proper burial.

Certainly grim and serious subject matter. But the film in not the depressing and nihilistic result that the story would lead you to believe. This is partly due to the main character never giving up, so you support his efforts to survive and fight for humanity amidst the most dire of circumstances. The film has a lyrical core of hope that Saul will make it out of his living hell. At the Q&A after the screening, Nemes called Saul's mission an ascendance to saintly action.

Is this exploitation of a sensitive subject to get attention for a new filmmaker? Yes, it is a high wire act that could easily offend many viewers with its shocking images even if intentionally out of focus. But the skill Nemes employs to keep the film from utterly grim devastation, makes it a work of art that should be seen and discussed. Thanks to the charisma of first time actor Geza Rohrig and the startling camerawork, Nemes never sentimentalizes nor degrades the situation. Be warned that "Son of Saul" contains disturbing images, but it is worth the stressful viewing to see a new perspective on history that should never be forgotten.