Son of Saul

I'm not really a fan of most war films. The whole act of war seems so counterintuitive to me that I can rarely get on board. Sure there are a few examples of great war films such as Apocalypse Now and I can certainly see the merits of something like Saving Private Ryan, but mostly I find them to be miserable cock-fests washed in green and brown. The off-putting kind of war movie for me is a holocaust movie. You always know what you're going to get with a holocaust movie and I'm never particularly in the mood for getting it. Just fucking misery. Again, I recognise there are moving well-made holocaust movies such as notorious pedo and holocaust survivor Roman Polanski's The Pianist, but again it's just something I'm never particularly in the mood for.

I'm working my way though a list of the highest rated films I've never seen and the only two left in the top 50 are Schindler's List and Life is Beautiful - that's how much I generally avoid these types of films.

So, in a way, I appreciated being forced to watch Son of Saul, if only because I would have never watched it otherwise. And sure, there's a big part of me that wishes I still hadn't watched it, but as a fan of film I do feel obliged to watch all sorts of movies, including the occasional depressing holocaust movie.

We follow Ausländer Saul through the turmoil of a concentration camp as he tries to find a rabbi to help him bury a body he claims to be his son. When I say follow I mean the exceptional camera operator rarely lets us stray more than a yard away from Saul's head. This must have been really annoying to film for the actor, but the result is cinematography that really puts you in his character's shoes; Saul is always in focus with the background - the piles of naked bodies and crowds marched to their deaths mostly obscured by the shallow depth of field as though the only way to survive through this hell is to mentally block it out. It's claustrophobic and forces you to look at Saul's face - forces you to empathize with him. Surprisingly it's only on a rare occasion that this framing choice means we don't really see what is going on properly - it does become a little confusing as the chaos grows throughout the movie. I can't help but wonder if the cinematography in this movie was an inspiration to the Jenifer Lawrence film Mother! Which employed a very similar technique.

Contending with a close proximity camera isn't the only impressive aspect to lead actor, Röhrig Géza's performance. He maintains a very stoic, driven, physical demeanor throughout but his the heaviness of his brow and his increasingly breathless, exasperated manner help spell the tortures he has been through. He carries the film.

Unfortunately for me my automatic distrust of war movies sonewhat doubled in watching Saul's plight. There is a plan being cooked up by his fellow inmates for a breakout, but Saul's priority is performing some bullshit religious ceremony. As much as the cinematography engaged me and made me feel empathy for Saul, his religious motivations were frustrating and didn't exactly have me rooting for his success. When he finally realises the Rabbi he found is a desperate fraud and the body of the child subsequently floats off down the river I felt only relief that he can no longer pursue his stupid plan.

Look I can't deny this is a well made film and it's very effective in its goal. I can't think of another movie where the audience so fully experience what it must have been like to be a Jew in a concentration camp. But honestly who wants that experience?

3 more spaces in the gas chamber out of 5.

Now I'm going to go watch Sophie's choice to cheer myself up