Son of Saul

This film is about a Jewish man Saul trying to bury his dead son in a concentration camp during World War Two. After discovering that his son has died he try’s to get his units rabbi to perform burial right. He refused to do this as they are two busy with a break out attempt and the boy is not one of there men. So Saul goes round the camp seeking a rabbi. After he rescues one from a line of Jews being led to slaughter, he try’s to bury his son the next day. He doesn’t get far as the break out starts. Carrying his sons body Saul escapes from the camp with the rabbi. While fleeing In the woods he attempts to bury him again this is where we find out that the rabbi is a fraud. Saul is forced to abandon the act again, when German forces start closing in on him. He gets into a river it struggles to swim with his sons body and starts drowning. He is rescued by another man but loses his sons body to the river.

This film is shot with a single camera almost gonzo style and it makes for claustrophobic viewing. We follow Saul round the camp while all hell is breaking lose around him. It’s a very depressing and gritty film. We see Saul and his unit of Sonderkommando’s dragging dead body’s from the gas chambers, sorting through the belongings of the dead and burning the bodies in the furnace. We hear the screams from the gas chamber it all makes for a very visceral experience. At one point the furnace can’t keep up with the amount of body’s, so they Hurd the Jews to the pits where they are shot and burned with a flame thrower.

It’s a difficult watch it almost felt boring in the first 30 minutes and I was left a little confused as to what was going on. Though I felt more engrossed the more the film went on. When we finally got to see day light after 20 minutes it was a welcome relief. I enjoy the performance in the film and I thought it was cleverly shot. I didn’t enjoy the confusing way we were introduced to what was going on. The plot made little sense till a good half an hour had passed. The ending is depressing it seems like we spent all that time following Saul for no reason.

2.5 floating dead boys out of 5