A unique vision of the Holocaust

Rating: 9/10 (29 March 2016)

There was quite a bit of surprise when Cannes spokespeople Thierry Frémaux and Pierre Lescure announced that one of the films competing in the official selection last year was László Nemes' debut feature Son of Saul. But the surprise was even bigger when it screened to an overwhelmingly positive response, eventually landing both the FIPRESCI Prize and the Grand Prize of the Jury, before successfully competing in other festivals and garnering other awards, until its recent nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars. Thing is, maybe the surprise wouldn't have been as big if we'd considered for a little longer who we were dealing with. Nemes lacked experience as a director, at least as far as feature films were concerned, but he'd worked as assistant director to Béla Tarr's The Man from London. And the influence of this renowned Hungarian director, famous for his extended tracking shots and depressingly existential themes, is evident in his disciple's first major work. Indeed, the film takes place in Auschwitz, no less, when near the end of World War II the Nazis were trying to eliminate as many Jews as possible, whether they had to suffocate them, burn them, or simply execute them one after another. Some of the Jews themselves were forced to help them carry out this dehumanized task, giving up their own humanity in an attempt to uselessly prolong their insignificant existence. But one of them, the title's main character Saul (newcomer Géza Röhrig in a deeply committed performance), refuses to abandon all morality, and, amidst all this horror, tries to properly bury a young victim who in his eyes has become his own son, hence offering him his one reason to live.
This plot might seem straightforward and even simplistic, but only if you don't look beneath its surface. In fact, Saul goes through a true journey, both physically and psychologically, within the narrow confines of the camp and in little more than a days' time, and everything around him also moves forward towards an absolutely devastating climax. I won't reveal the outcome, but it's important to note that the narrative is structured around a thought-provoking symmetry, one that, also aided by occasional touches of symbolism, helps bring the story to an even higher level of transcendence than what the Holocaust context is already providing. In this sense, one of the great virtues of Nemes and his crew is how they've been able to use a moment in History we already know a lot about, one that's also been filmed on numerous occasions, and yet tell us something new about it, while at the same time paying the utmost respect to those who suffered because of it. And it's the technical aspect of the production that plays a huge part in achieving this goal. Indeed, the technical prowess Nemes and his cameraman put on display here, along with the boom operators and sound designers, make for a tremendously immersive and harrowing experience, portraying the Holocaust probably in the most effective way one could imagine. The long, dynamic tracking shots never feel gratuitous, but are rather demanded by the frenzied actions that take place; whereas the constant whispers, yells and miscellaneous sounds that surround the viewer feel extremely authentic yet also surreal. All in all, Son of Saul combines all the elements that cinema can offer to create a true work of art in the most hostile of conditions, one that should raise intellectual and emotional fervor among its hopefully wide audience.