Son of Saul
Son of Saul / Saul fia (2015)
Director: Laszlo Nemes
Hungarian
Drama/Thriller/War
Cast: Geza Rohrig, Levente Molnar, Urs Rechn
Writers: Laslzo Nemes, Clara Royer
1h 47min
My friend Baz asked me to go to the movies with him to watch Son of Saul. He said something like, it's based on WW2, and something about prisoners who had to work in the camps. Baz and I usually always like the same things so of course I said yes.
Son of Saul, a Hungarian film also called Saul fia. The first feature film for director László Nemes. The film premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix, it also won Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Award this year amongst other awards.
The film takes place over two days, in an Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II and follows Saul Auslander a Hungarian who has been made a Sonderkommando -prisoners who have no choice but to help the Nazis exterminate Jews.
So, I have watched a few films based on World War II and read quite a few books, such as; The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Night, The Book Thief, The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank, and I've been to Germany, so I know about that terrible, terrible, terrible time in history. However this film, this film, excuse my language, was fucked. It's the only word I could think of after I left the cinema. The film really shares this story with you in an unforgettable way.
It is a powerful film and I am really glad that I watched it, and at the same time those scenes of horror are etched in my mind forever. Baz and I left the cinema and didn't know what to say. What those people went through, it is just unimaginable, and the fact that it actually happened, it just really makes you think. About humanity, about power, about how lucky we are.
I am not at all surprised that Son of Saul won an Oscar, it was shot so well, the whole time you feel like you are seeing what is happening right through Saul's eyes. A lot of the horrific scenes are a blur, but you don't really need to see it to understand what is going on.