Son of Saul

I quite enjoyed the inner conflict of the main character in the first half because I actually experienced it too. I wondered for a long time if it was rational to devote my energy to a dead child in such moving circumstances ("because of the dead you forgot about the living"), only to realize later that the central character often really doesn't give a damn about any rationality. Son of Saul is an extremely intimate portrait of a broken man for whom the self-destructive and quite obviously irrational (given the situation) need for a ritualistic act becomes the only life purpose. The extremely evocative POV cinematography and (thankfully) mostly out-of-focus shots of human carnage are quite disturbing, and the atmosphere of pervasive evil and death radiates from the screen in a way that's not pretty. [80%] (11/29/2020)

The interesting style of camerawork strongly reminded me of Resident Evil 4. I also liked the sound, which had a very intense effect on me, perhaps in connection with the camera. Otherwise, I was quite disappointed. Initially, the film felt very realistic to me. But the next thing I know, I'm watching the Sonderkommando in full action while the lead is standing in the middle of the room, staring blankly, and nothing’s happening. I was just waiting for one of the guards to go get him a coffee and a cigarette. Compared to similar films, it definitely loses out to The Grey Zone. (06/21/2016)

Watching Son of Saul was such an intense and profound experience for me that I was unable to write an immediate comment about it. The filmmakers managed to create such a high level of authenticity within the genre that I consider surpassing it practically impossible. It's a naturalistic visit to hell as if you were suddenly immersed in hot water in a cauldron, and for almost two hours, you felt the devastating effects of sulfur, flames, and smoke on your body. Son of Saul captures 24 hours of the bitter existence of a Sonderkommando member in an extermination concentration camp. We observe the world through the eyes of a dulled and exhausted man who has experienced so much horror in recent months that, due to a defense mechanism of his psyche, he perceives the surrounding world as if in partial anesthesia through filters, completely detached. However, a meeting with a boy who miraculously survived being in the gas chamber awakens human emotions in him. Because his options are extremely limited, he clings to something that seems irrational at first glance, to an act that his fellow inmates do not understand. He does his best to organize a dignified farewell to the deceased in accordance with Jewish traditions, within the limits of what he can do. Son of Saul is an unpleasant and depressing film that cannot be recommended for casual viewing. It requires a certain level of sensitivity, and the ability to capture details and infer what is suggested. On the other hand, it is not deeply encrypted either, and reading some comments left me somewhat confused. Seriously, is it really that difficult to understand what happened with Saul's son and the rabbi? Personally, I consider it to be one of the most powerful film experiences ever. Overall impression: 95%. (05/04/2017)

A movie without the past and the future, which will be (not only because of this) described as a holocaust-style Come and See (1985). Thanks to the chosen format of "long scenes over the shoulder", it is unusually intense, suggestive (amazing sound work!) and gets under you skin very quickly and for a long time. Maybe too much, because it's constantly moving and it is so dynamic that the viewer (nor the character) will be sitting on the edge of his char all the time. What can happen is that the viewer becomes used to it by the end of the movie, although the horrors during the Sonderkommando shift are shown "seemingly accidentally", are sidelined and presented as a daily routine. But as a result it is even more terrifying and disturbing. No matter whether you become used to it or not and whether you can get over it or not, it is indisputable that Saul's son is one of the exceptions confirming the rule that the film's qualities and the importance and urgency of the theme form one functional unit, which rightfully deserves "festival fame". If nothing else, it is because such a view of the film depiction of the Holocaust through the industrialization of death was desperately needed, because although these events are captured in literature from time to time they are almost never depicted in a movie. (10/09/2015)

A clever combination of quasi-first person POV cinematography that in documentary fashion draws you into the storyline and a horror environment of a real-life hell that no one wants to experience from this close. No word other than “hell” is more apt for the night scenes at the pits. Not bad for a Hungarian director’s debut. If you haven't seen The Gray Zone and you don’t know the term "Sonderkommando", this movie will kill you. (10/14/2015)