One Of The Most Engrossing and Uncompromising Films I Have Ever Seen

Rating: 9/10 (16 February 2016)

Now I know that this movie was released in 2015, but it did not get a theatrical release until last Friday, so for now i'm calling it a 2016 release, also i'm doing this because I don't feel like redoing my 2015 list since this would be on there somewhere. Anyways, on with the review.
There are films that can affect you in many ways and Son Of Saul is one of the most effective and uncompromising films I have ever seen. You feel engrossed by the way every scene is presented, and it feels so real that at one point I felt sick to my stomach from how realistic the movie felt. Every aspect of the film was meticulously presented, and some of the details were incredibly subtle.
One thing about the movie that made it work incredibly well was the cinematography. They use a hand held camera for almost all the movie and instead of showing some establishing shots for you to understand where the film takes place, it actually follows the main character through one impressive long take of him brining in the Jewish prisoners to the camp. The rest of the movie, the camera is solely focused on Saul, and most of the background is blurred out so we can faintly see whats going on around, but sometimes you have to infer for yourself. This really sells the idea of this being a journey through the characters perspective, since we never cut to another person, its always following him, we only see what he sees. This also makes some scenes incredibly disturbing since it doesn't show whats happening upfront, you can only think about about what is happening.
Another great aspect is the sound design. I know thats a small thing to talk about, but trust me, its also really important. The sound was used so well it actually made you feel like when a character was whispering to Saul that they were whispering into your ear as well, there were so many little touches that made you feel like you were there with him, and again made some scenes even more disturbing. Also the lack of a score is what sells the tone the film is going for.
The directing is absolutely perfect. There are scenes that use a great numbers of extras, and these scenes are usually one takes that move around an area, some lasting for 5 minutes or more.
In the end Son Of Saul is an essential movie, that shows how a movie can be more than just a movie. I would say its a perfect movie except there was one scene where a scream sound effect was used that I've heard in a few other movies, and it took me out the scene for a bit. I know its kind of a nitpick, but it was really distracting. But besides that, the film is practically flawless, and, in the future, might be called one of the best films ever made.
Final Score: 9.5/10