Son of Saul - with many spoilers

Son of Saul is a horrifyingly frank window into life as a member of the Sonderkommando working involuntarily in the Auschwitz Birkenau death camp during the second world war. It was László Nemes’ first feature length film and was based on ‘The Scrolls of Auschwitz’, a book of witness accounts from former Sonderkommando members.

Verdict

My movie ratings consist of thumbs up or middle fingers as sometimes one starring something doesn’t shame it enough. 5 thumbs up = an absolute triumph. 5 middle fingers = a complete piece of shit, go fuck yourself.

Son of Saul - 3 thumbs up

Quite a hardcore way to get a message across. Perhaps not an entry level Holocaust movie.

Favourite quote “You failed the living for the dead.” - Saul’s actions are condemned after he loses the gunpowder required to fight back against the Nazis.

Favourite scene

It is difficult to watch Son of Saul and think “I bloody loved that scene”. The scene I thought was most thought provoking was where the leader of the Sonderkommando is asked to give the Nazi commanding officer the names of 70 men he no longer required in order for them to be killed. It hits harder when the group later finds those people’s belongings outside the gas chamber.

Best meme from the movie

Analysis

The first thing that grabbed my attention upon selecting to watch Son of Saul was that it was not shot in widescreen. It felt very odd to watch a relatively new release with distracting black bars down either side of the action and made me question why they weren’t making the most of my beautiful widescreen television. I was so distracted that I googled it. This lead to two discoveries:

• ‘not widescreen’ is apparently known as ‘using an aspect ratio of 1.375:1’. Obvs.

• It was filmed in this way in order to force the audience into experiencing the film as if they were taking in Auschwitz-Birkenau through Saul’s field of vision.

Experiencing Auschwitz through the field of vision of a man with a death sentence hanging over his head functioning in the closest thing to hell on earth is an unpleasant but necessary experience. This movie is the most visceral and closest experience to actually having been in Auschwitz that there has ever been. Filming in this way isn’t without its drawbacks however. Most of the horrors of Auschwitz are usually just out of sight of the camera or blurred in the background, whilst Saul’s solemn face occupies most of the screen. Although obviously intentional I found this incredibly distracting whilst trying to concentrate on the movie. I would be very curious to see what the Autistic Friendly version of this movie looked like.

This movie wasn’t my first introduction to the Sonderkommando. I did find the text explanation at the beginning of the film useful in spelling out exactly who we were watching as it condemned the Nazi party’s actions with merely a description but I actually visited the Auschwitz and Berkenau camps in 2016. Despite popular misconception Auschwitz concentration camp is not actually where the majority of the gas chambers were. Auschwitz only actually had one gas chamber which came much later than the camp itself as it was mainly used as a work camp. People were often killed there and incredibly hideous tortures and cruelty were suffered by its occupants but the four main gas chambers, disguised as shower blocks and depicted in this film were at the sister camp; Birkenau. It was on a tour around this site that I learned of the Sonderkommando and their terrible task of disposing of the bodies of other inmates helplessly whilst learning of the fate they themselves would one day suffer.

The remains of a destroyed gas chamber. All 4 gas chambers were demolished following the liberation of the camp.

A story I learned whilst in Birkenau which totally blew my mind was that of the Sonderkommando unit who heroically managed to take down one of the gas chambers towards the end of the war, reducing the nazi death machine’s murders by 25 percent. This incredible feat saved countless lives, despite costing the lives of the nameless martyrs who managed to store up enough gunpowder and fuel to blow the whole thing up. When Saul gathered some explosives to give to the armed men in his unit I thought that’s what this movie may actually be about and I was initially quite disappointed that it wasn’t. Upon reflection, the story I'd hoped it would become would never have suited the mood of the movie. This was no hero tale. This was as close to the Birkenau nightmare as you could possibly experience from your own living room, with no place for a happy ending.

The plotline of the movie is actually quite strange. Saul is desperately focused on providing a religious burial for a boy killed in the gas chamber he is working in. It is unclear whether the boy is actually his son or just a boy he thinks deserves better than to have been murdered in such an inhumane way. Other Sonderkommando workers claim the boy is not his son at various points throughout the film but we never learn what is really going on here.

Saul’s obsession with burying the boy costs a lot more lives than it should. Everything he touches turns to dead, creating lots more ‘pieces’ for the Nazi party to mercilessly turn to ash. It seems that every time Saul sources a Rabbi they are instantly murdered, but he quite selfishly continues his search. This whole endeavor also manages to spoil a gunpowder plot to escape or at least fight back against the Nazi captors.

The bottom line

This movie really messed up my week. I had planned my crying fits for Monday Morning, as usual. Having to watch this movie on a Friday put me all out of sorts and I ended up driving to work on a Saturday. That obviously provoked a second, smaller cry. This movie is not a good time, but definitely watch it.