'Son of Saul' has powerful sequences but is too hypercontrolled
First-time Hungarian feature film director聽L谩szl贸聽Nemes conceived聽of聽his 鈥淪on聽of聽Saul鈥� as a Holocaust movie like no other. Set in Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944, it focuses on two days in the life聽of聽a Hungarian聽Sonderkommando,聽Saul聽Ausl盲nder聽(Geza Rohrig), a Jew whose job it is聽to hurriedly escort newly arrived transports聽of聽Jewish prisoners to the gas聽chambers and then clear out the corpses. (Sonderkommandos were聽regularly murdered themselves by the SS, after several months.)
When, in the aftermath聽of聽a gassing, he sees the dead body聽of聽a young聽boy in the shower, he frantically attempts to covertly reclaim the body,聽track down a rabbi within the camp, and give the boy a proper Jewish聽burial. He says the boy is his聽son, but it鈥檚 not clear if this is true: It could聽also mean that, with this single, valiantly hopeless act, he is trying to聽preserve his humanity inside this inferno.
At first, with the camera almost always tightly framing聽Saul聽as he is聽herded and goaded by the SS on his unspeakable errands, the film has a聽muscular force. The headlong rush聽of聽horror is dramatized almost matter-of-factly, and Nemes does not offer up explicit images聽of聽the carnage,聽allowing us to fill in our own.
But Nemes鈥檚聽Saul-centric stylistics grow wearisome after a while,聽because聽Saul, blank-faced throughout, never really comes to life as much聽more than a symbolic martyr. Co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer, the聽movie doesn鈥檛 really expand upon the true madness聽of聽Saul鈥檚 mission. It鈥檚聽too hypercontrolled, too limited a conception, for that.
Of聽course, on some level, no movie about this subject can fail to move聽us, and 鈥淪on聽of聽Saul鈥� has its share聽of聽powerful sequences. I wanted it to聽be great, though, with a largeness聽of聽vision to match the awful immensity聽of聽its subject. Grade:聽B (Rated R for disturbing violent content and some graphic nudity.)
