Son of Saul

Name: Son of Saul
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller, Horror, War
Released: December 18, 2015
Duration: 107 min
Rating: 91
Cast: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Todd Charmont, Urs Rechn

2015

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 47 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 150 Ratings

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7.3

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7.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 150 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: December 18, 2015 | R

Starring: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Todd Charmont, Urs Rechn

Summary: October 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Saul Ausländer is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from the camp and forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination. While working in one of the crematoriums, Saul discovers the corpse of a boy he takes for his son. As theOctober 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Saul Ausländer is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from the camp and forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination. While working in one of the crematoriums, Saul discovers the corpse of a boy he takes for his son. As the Sonderkommando plans a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task: save the child’s body from the flames, find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial.… Expand

Director: László Nemes

Genre(s): Drama, History, Thriller, Horror, War

Rating: R

Runtime: 107 min

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Awards & Rankings

8	#8 Best Movie of 2015
91	#91 Most Shared Movie of 2015

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Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Matt Glasby

May 28, 2019

A film to make your blood run cold, Nemes’ first-person account of life, and death, in a concentration camp contains horrors you can’t – and shouldn’t – unsee. Read full review

100

Mick LaSalle

Jan 14, 2016

Almost too much to bear. But brace yourself and see it anyway. It’s worth it. Read full review

100

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

May 24, 2015

By any standards, this would be an outstanding film, but for a debut it is remarkable. Read full review

100

Soren Andersen

Dec 18, 2018

Röhrig’s performance is an extraordinary feat of minimalism. His expressions convey a deadened spirit. Yet behind his eyes and at the corners of his mouth are signs of a spirit that won’t be crushed. Read full review

Christopher Orr

Jan 4, 2019

It is not—if my description has somehow failed to make this clear—an easy film to watch. But it is a forceful and unsettling addition to the cinema of the Holocaust, a film that digs deeply into the gruesome workings of the death camps and ponders questions about duties to the living and duties to the dead. Read full review

Lawrence Toppman

Feb 11, 2016

Hungarian writer-director László Nemes makes an extraordinary feature-length debut with this film, which requires us to put together bits of information and leaves us guessing at a few missing pieces. Read full review

David Edelstein

Jan 8, 2016

The movie doesn’t expand in your mind — it shrinks along with its protagonist, its conclusion a reductio ad absurdum. Read full review

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User Reviews

roinujrino

Dec 18, 2015

Son of Saul is an immersive experience of the most disturbing kind, an unwavering vision of a particular kind of hell. No matter how many Holocaust films you've seen, you've not seen one like this.

4 of 7 users found this helpful43

azhar_

Dec 31, 2017

this movie is amazing, very beautiful, and natural, one of the best movie ever, very recommended movie to watch and to learning.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

shoulderoforion

Apr 29, 2016

As the Grandson of a survivor of Auschwitz this was an essential movie, it's a hard watch but a necessary one for anybody who doesn't know what happened there.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

shiftworker

Nov 30, 2016

Hungarian holocaust tale. Father working in death camp tries to provide a proper burial for his son. Compelling, but bleak. Interestingly and effectively shot, with the main character in focus and the appalling events largely out of focus in the background.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

foxgrove

Dec 18, 2015

Son of Saul is one of those important films that comes so steeped in the injustices and horrors of its history that one feels positively guilty about saying anything negative about it. This unique perspective on the holocaust atrocities has us following Saul, a Hungarian Jew, working as aSon of Saul is one of those important films that comes so steeped in the injustices and horrors of its history that one feels positively guilty about saying anything negative about it. This unique perspective on the holocaust atrocities has us following Saul, a Hungarian Jew, working as a Sonderkommando at Auschwitz/Birkenau. Here his daily work is to herd hundreds of his fellow race naked into the gas chambers and subsequently remove the bodies, effecting a clean-up of all traces of the horror. After one such routine a young boy is discovered, barely alive, having survived the gas. From this point in, although the boy subsequently dies, Saul becomes obsessed by having him properly buried by a Rabbi. The ambiguity surrounding whether or not the boy is actually Saul’s son casts the actions of the protagonist in a contrasting light, depending on viewer interpretation. It is precisely this unanswered question that causes confusion in the narrative which, in turn, has an overall detrimental impact.
The film’s style further distances. Told from Saul’s viewpoint almost totally, one watches intently but real emotional involvement is kept at bay. Long tracking shots, out of focus imagery and an in your face claustrophobic feel becomes somewhat overwhelming. Likewise, the frenetic and dizzying camera movements don’t always allow time to process exactly what is happening. I’m sure this is intentional and in keeping with the chaotic context but, as cinema it is frustratingly unsatisfying.
There are two standout sequences, however. The first, where Saul finds himself stripped naked awaiting execution and the second involves an escape.
Overall the film cries out to be seen (the critics seem to have been inventing superlatives for it). I just wish that I liked it as much as I appreciate it.… Expand

8 of 11 users found this helpful83

jrodfilms

Feb 6, 2016

a tough film to rate. its very bleak and depressing and for that the story is captured well, other than that the rest of the story can be summed up in a short film. good cinematography but can be very tedious to watch at times since it mostly takes a first person view.

4 of 4 users found this helpful40

Broyax

May 24, 2018

Il faut toujours aborder avec précaution et circonspection les "palmes" du Festival de Cannes ; il faut s'y préparer psychologiquement, il faut rester fort. Surtout avec un film hongrois non doublé bien entendu.
Remarquez, il aurait été doublé que ça aurait été un gâchis impardonnable : ilIl faut toujours aborder avec précaution et circonspection les "palmes" du Festival de Cannes ; il faut s'y préparer psychologiquement, il faut rester fort. Surtout avec un film hongrois non doublé bien entendu.
Remarquez, il aurait été doublé que ça aurait été un gâchis impardonnable : il n'y a rien de pire que de mobiliser nos meilleurs doubleurs pour doubler... euh un "truc" pareil. Bref, ça ferait mal au cul, comme on dit.

Pourtant, le sujet qui concerne les camps de la mort suscite évidemment une curiosité certaine. Mais souvent, la curiosité est un vilain défaut et on comprend pourquoi ici. Difficile donc de décrire cette "palme" mais nous tenterons néanmoins de le faire à nos risques et périls.

Le film est en 4/3 et le film est à 95% (ou peut-être 97%) filmé derrière l'épaule du rôle principal et on sent bien que pour les 5 ou 3% restants, ça emmerde le réalisateur de filmer autre chose que l'épaule de l'acteur ou sa brave tronche de prisonnier. La caméra suit donc à la trace le gars et garde la mise au point exclusivement sur lui ; de cette façon, tout le reste est flou... et pendant tout le putain de film, on ne sait pas ce qui se passe dans le camp parce qu'on ne voit que la tronche ou l'épaule du pauvre gars qui veut enterrer son fiston.

C'est donc pas regardable, ni au début, ni au milieu, ni à la fin. Et à part une scène précise (les exécutions au bord de la fosse) on pourrait se trouver dans n'importe endroit avec des prisonniers, n'importe quel camp de travail. Sauf que quand même ça parle allemand beaucoup évidemment et qu'on apprend la langue assez vite avec "ya wol et arbeit".

Le plus dingue dans tout ça, c'est que le film passe directement par dessus la tête et que son impact est réduit à zéro. Et pourtant, un camp de la mort, ce n'est pas une simple anecdote. Mais avec ce film réalisé par un demeuré, ça le devient et ça l'est. Et les débiles à l'asile de Cannes, ils lui filent la palme. Nous aussi, on lui donne la "palme" mais pas pour les mêmes raisons...… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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