Are you ready to watch an amazing visual recreation of the Holocaust? You will see it all from the point of view of Saul, a Jew forced to help in the Nazi death camps. The camera shoots the whole film with Saul’s head in close up. We see everything he does, as if we are controlling him in a video game. If you liked the long takes of Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men, or Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas, you will appreciate this film.
Why Watch Son of Saul?
- It won the Foreign Language Academy Award in 2016, beating the equally incredible Embrace of the Serpent
- For some amazing long takes that reminded me of Alfonso Cuaron’s Birdman and Children of Men.
- For another great, but harrowing Holocaust movie. Son of Saul offers a different aspect to what you have seen in Life is Beautiful and Schindler’s List
- Learn about the SonderKommando – groups of Jews who were forced to carry out the Nazi’s dirty work
The Breakdown
The film starts with a blurred image full of green vegetation. You can just about make out two people with their shirts off, digging a hole by a tree. A man approaches the camera and his head comes into focus. The camera sticks to him, always showing his head in close-up focus and everything happening around him out of focus. He herds people onto a train and into the Nazi Death camps where they are frantically stripped and sent to their deaths in the gas chambers.
The man who the camera has stuck to is Saul, a Sonder Kommando. The Sonder Kommando were strong men, usually Jewish, selected by the Nazis to clear the gas chambers. We see them clearing dead bodies, rifling for valuables in the dead’s clothes, and digging burial plots. They were effectively slaves for the Nazis. If they didn’t obey the Nazis, they were shot and replaced. However, like the prisoner in A Man Escaped, there is hope where there is life and always opportunity to rebel and escape.
The director, Lazlo Nemes, chooses to focus on one man, Saul, throughout the film. The camera stays glued to Saul’s face for the whole film. Our view is restricted by Saul’s movement – even the background is rarely in focus. It gives us a unique point of view which immerses us in the horrors of life in the Nazi death camps. However, the blurred background hides a lot of the gore and violence from clear view (even though we know what is happening). I believe the director leaves these blurred to show that Saul has become accustomed to the horror/violence. He knows it is there, but doesn’t want to see it any more, so he blurs it out of his memory.
Conclusion
As hinted at before, Saul blurs out the horror and violence of the Holocaust as he doesn’t want to see it. As a result, his perspective and life retreats into himself as he tries to leave reality. He makes it his duty to ceremonially bury a boy killed by the Nazis who is left for experimentation. He prioritises this over everything else (escape, rebellion, and protection).
“You have failed the living for the dead” – One of the Sonder Kommando to Saul.
Maybe you’re put off from watching foreign films because they are generally too pretentious. A lot of them have long scenes where nothing much happens. Well this is why I’m recommending you watch Life is Beautiful. It’s got all the makings of a great and familiar Hollywood movie; great story, a lot of emotion, and simple film-making, but you’ll earn kudos for watching a foreign film. So gather your family round the TV and watch this one tonight!