1197. Saul fia

Saul fia

Son of Saul

2015
Directed by Laszlo Nemes

Good lord, and I thought reading A Day in the Life Ivan Denisovich was depressing. Our quest to find the most joyless films in the world continues with the Son of Saul. I would venture to say this is the saddest movie we have left, but they like to creep up on me. 

Saul Auslander is a Jewish-Hungarian prisoner in Auschwitz. His job is to salvage valuables from those killed in the gas chambers and to prepare the chamber for the next massacre. Saul witnesses the killing of the boy who somehow survived the gas chamber, and wants to give him a proper Jewish burial. I'm not surprised that our recent List movies have taken inspiration from Greek tragedies. Anyway, Saul must search for a rabbi who can perform the proper rituals. Saul also becomes involved with a potential uprising against the SS guards.

Well, a quick gander at that plot summary will tell you how many times you'll be smiling while enduring this movie. It's one of those films that seems important to watch, but might ruin your day if you let it. I have to hand it to the director for his technique while filming this. We stuck by Saul's side for the entire film, which was a cool literary twist on the medium. 

So another really great movie that I wish I hadn't seen.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Laszlo Nemes made a pact with the cinematographer and production designer that the film would not look beautiful or appealing. They also decided the camera must follow Saul the entire runtime. 

Nemes cited Come and See as his inspiration. Well, that figures.

The son of Saul is actually played by twin brothers.