Death is a ritual. In the ordinary life, in the life of the psychopaths, and in the clinging of the victims in the last few seconds. This is a way to reconsider our days, to extend meaningfulness. Whether we believe there is something beyond or not. The Holocaust is probably the largest ritual of death in the history of mankind. Interpreted multiple times. His recreation is often mixed with melodramatism, which has long been tired. The banality of the Auschwitz images makes us forget about the true scale of this disturbing episode of history. Here that in 2015 - 74 years after the creation of the Congregation - with the Son of Saul we entered inside. And we felt the horror tight and painful. László Nemes' camera showed us the animal-fearing feverish measurement of life without value. In the movie, the world ranges from fence to fence. And your personal space ends where your breath is. And whether you're a laborer or a professor, your thoughts are just about winning a few more minutes. And the anxiety follows you constantly.
Former locksmith Saul Ausslander (Gesar Rörig) is part of Zonderkomanda - prisoners who help in the killing of the concentration camps, and their own death is delayed for several months. The first shot of the movie waits for Saul to get into it focused, and then the camera follows him indefinitely. It stays inches from his face and never emphasizes neither the columns of the doomed nor the carcasses nor their executioners. And that's what makes the nightmare even more - we hear the cries of the night, we see the naked bodies and the fire that swallows them like a background, but the camera never stops on them. This is exactly one day in Auschwitz, a day where you can help kill hundreds of people once again, and in your blurred consciousness you can sneak the awareness that the delay of death is not enough. Among the first steamed in the gas chamber, there is a boy whom Saul is convinced he is a long-lost son. He does not allow him to do an autopsy, he risks repeatedly to find a rabbi who can perform Kadish - a Jewish prayer for the dead, and succeed in burying the body. Meanwhile, other prisoners are trying to organize an escape - marked by the fact that death is always just a few paces away. To arrange for the child's ritual funeral, Saul is involved in the plot. This is also the small hope of the viewer that in the nightmare that looks through the eyes of the former locksmith, there will be some hepping (the conscience that has been for years on Hollywood movies is zombied by this cliché - whether we want it or not, we realize it or not). But in Auschwitz, reality is different. She is ruthless. And then there is no survival. This is the real ritual of death. Therefore, in the "Son of Saull" there is no difference between the living and the dead. But clinging to familiar rituals can save you at least from fear.
"Son of Saul" is the first feature film of Hungarian director Laszlo Nemesh and his previous documentary experience. The fact that he was an assistant to Bella Tar, it is clearly visible. Continuity in impressive Hungarian cinema is preserved. And another European film has emerged amongst the Oscars, in which technical development does not matter. It's just the story and the ability to tell it differently. And one last warning. Do not look at "Son of Saul" unless you believe in the inevitability. Do not watch this movie if you think life is cruel enough. Do not watch this movie if you want to be calm and sleep well. But it will be a great loss to miss it.