Following the Saul

Rating: 10/10 (6 December 2015)

Is there something above staying alive or run away if you are in Auschwitz?
This movie was quite a surprise for me when I have a chance to watch it the other day. Big project which reveals the brutal truth about World War II and follows two days of a life of a prisoner from Hungary. When I says follows, I really mean follows the main actor without any shot in entire movie without him. The movie starts with the long blurry shot in which actor shows up in distance and walks to the camera and finally we can see his face clear, he starts to walk around and the camera follows him. Long shot (take), lasts 3-5 minutes. That throw us into the story without any clue whats going on. As the take flows we can understand what is going on, that much how much we are allowed. We don't ,,see the world through his eyes,,. We see him and the space around him. At the end of the first scene we find out what was and what is going on and who ,,he is,,. And we see what will make a ,,problem,, in this movie.
Son of Saul or Imaginary Son of Saul?
Movie goes on and we are introduced in their plans of breaking away. But, we are not familiar with the fact if it is really his son or his self- delusion. Even when he admits that the boy is his son, we are not convinced. Diegesis of the war? His odd behavior?
However, while the other prisoners in his command, obviously his friends in certain ways, try to finish the plan, to smuggle a dynamite and blows whole camp up, he is trying to find a rabbi and bury the boy. His dedication goes that far that he accidentally ruins their plan and make runaway a lot harder. And than when they're out (on the loose) he carries a corpse of a boy and don't try to run or hide, instead, he wants to bury the body immediately.
When you watch the film without ,,separating from him,, for the whole movie you have strong identification with main character, and you found yourself asking ,,what will I do in that situation?,,. And there is a question again - is that or is that not his son?
If that is his illegitimate son, like he said, chances that he will recognize him, and have that much dedication to just bury him properly, are very low. But anyway, give us a moment to stop and reassess moral code. Assume that the boy is his son and that he, normally, loves him, do you find moral and reasonable his act? There is something above bare life? Is that only a dead body? Is that a question of religion and beliefs? Or question of love?
And finally if that wasn't his son we can make a conclusion that situation in which he found himself has impact on his mental health.
Both can be true. Director carefully drove us to the end of the movie, without knowledge of what is truth.
And, at the end, we finally ,,separate ourselves,, from Saul, few moments before his death, continuing to follow blond boy not knowing if he was hallucination or not.