Son of Saul

                   

Laszlo Nemes' Son of Saul has rightly won kudos as one of the most interesting first features of recent vintage. A former assistant to Bela Tarr, Nemes has fashioned his Holocaust film as an immersive experience that eschews the uplifting survival tales that most releases concerning the Holocaust have employed. Like Tarr and Jancsó, Nemes employs long takes, often following his protagonist as he searches Auschwitz for a rabbi to give the Kaddish for his dead son.

Nemes' protagonist, Saul, is a camp helper whose vile tasks include herding the inmates to the gas chambers and disposing of their ashes. While his felloe Sonderkommandos fight for survival and plot a rebellion, the protagonist refuses "to put an amen to it" and quests instead for spiritual closure. His smile at the film's conclusion, when he and his comrades are moments from annihilation, seems to indicate he believes that he has found closure.

Nemes' subjective camera takes an emotional toll on the viewer. The camera and Saul are both boxed in, not privy to all the horrors around, but trapped and helpless. This seems to me a wise choice by the director. It may limit the film's accessibility, but conveys the abject terror and depravity of the death camps. Romantic escapism or expressionism is not an option if one wants to portray the Holocaust in all its dread. (6/5/16)