Son of Saul
Hungarian World War II drama following the horror one Jewish prisoner experiences when forced to assist the Nazis in burning his own people, but attempts salvation when he finds his (supposed) son’s body. Winner of the Grand Prize of the Jury award at Cannes and nominated for the Palme d’Or.
October 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Saul Ausländer is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from the camp and forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination. While working in one of the crematoriums, Saul discovers the body of a boy he takes for his son. As the Sonderkommando plans a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task: save the child’s body from the flames, find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial.
- Director:
- László Nemes (feature debut)
- Writer:
- László NemesClara Royer
- Cast:
- Géza RöhrigLevente MolnárUrs RechnTodd Charmont
Reviews & comments
Flicks, Liam Maguren
flicksSon of Saul
Overrated. Not as harrowing and visceral as critics say it is. The cinematography is fine, almost the whole film is shot with medium close ups. I didn't care about Saul's journey. It got better towards the end, but for the most part I was pretty bored. Just stay at home and watch Schindler's List again on blu ray instead, a way better Holocaust film. Grade:...
Variety
pressA masterful exercise in narrative deprivation and sensory overload that recasts familiar horrors in daringly existential terms.
The Washington Post
pressThanks to his taste, rigor and superb sense of control, Nemes manages to create images that are both discreet and graphic, respectful and confrontational, inspiring and unsparing.
The Telegraph
pressIt pushes its vision to the bitter end, eschewing emotion, reflection, or intellectual framing as if banned at gunpoint from any such lapses.
The Guardian
pressBy any standards, this would be an outstanding film, but for a debut it is remarkable.
Los Angeles Times
pressNo matter how many Holocaust films you've seen, you've not seen one like this.
Hollywood Reporter
pressUtterly uneasy to watch but strikingly and confidently assembled, the film is a powerful aural and visual experience...
Flicks, Liam Maguren
flicksVariety
pressA masterful exercise in narrative deprivation and sensory overload that recasts familiar horrors in daringly existential terms.
The Washington Post
pressThanks to his taste, rigor and superb sense of control, Nemes manages to create images that are both discreet and graphic, respectful and confrontational, inspiring and unsparing.
The Telegraph
pressIt pushes its vision to the bitter end, eschewing emotion, reflection, or intellectual framing as if banned at gunpoint from any such lapses.
The Guardian
pressBy any standards, this would be an outstanding film, but for a debut it is remarkable.
Los Angeles Times
pressNo matter how many Holocaust films you've seen, you've not seen one like this.
Hollywood Reporter
pressUtterly uneasy to watch but strikingly and confidently assembled, the film is a powerful aural and visual experience...
Son of Saul
Overrated. Not as harrowing and visceral as critics say it is. The cinematography is fine, almost the whole film is shot with medium close ups. I didn't care about Saul's journey. It got better towards the end, but for the most part I was pretty bored. Just stay at home and watch Schindler's List again on blu ray instead, a way better Holocaust film....
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