Devastatingly Brilliant and Moving Tale

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2016)

This is a film that starts as it means to go on. It is set in the brutal Nazi Concentration/Death Camp of Auschwitz, where Saul is a Sonderkommando. These were prisoners that were forced to become part of the Nazi death machine by aiding them in the murder of their fellow countrymen, Jews and whomever were deemed an enemy of the Third Reich. The film opens with the deception played at the shower rooms where deadly Zyklon B gas was used to kill the prisoners.
The film is shot in a narrow aspect and is done – in the main – by focusing on Saul, so that what is happening elsewhere is often only half seen or passes us by in glimpses. This is incredibly powerful as you see how there is just too much to take in and the scenes are both terrible and moving in the extreme. The main plot comes when Saul recognises one of the victims as his son and is determined to give him a proper Jewish burial. What follows is his, and his co-inmates – plight.
To say this is a devastating film is an understatement. It is from director László Nemes and is his first feature length film, and what a way to make a start. This is hard to watch in places but it is so well made and acted that its sheer momentum carries you with it. Saul is played by Géza Röhrig who has put in a powerhouse performance. It is mainly in German and Hungarian (but also Yiddish, Russian, Polish, French, Greek and Slovak) and the sub titles are all very good, with a run time of 107 minutes that felt like a mere handful to me – this is a movie you will take a long time to forget – highly recommended.