Saul fia (2015)

In the horror of 1944 Auschwitz, a prisoner forced to burn the corpses of his own people finds moral survival upon trying to salvage from the flames the body of a boy he takes for his son.

Director:

László Nemes (as Nemes László)

Writers:

László Nemes (as Nemes László), Clara Royer

Stars:

Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn

Won 1 Oscar. Another 60 wins & 56 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Géza Röhrig	...	Saul Ausländer
Levente Molnár	...	Abraham Warszawski
Urs Rechn	...	Oberkapo Biederman
Todd Charmont	...	Bearded Prisoner
Jerzy Walczak	...	Rabbi Frankel
Gergö Farkas	...	Saul's Son
Balázs Farkas	...	Saul's Son
Sándor Zsótér	...	Dr. Miklos Nyiszli
Marcin Czarnik	...	Feigenbaum
Levente Orbán	...	Russian Prisoner
Kamil Dobrowolski	...	Mietek
Uwe Lauer	...	Oberscharführer Voss
Christian Harting	...	Oberscharführer Busch
Attila Fritz	...	Yankl (Young Prisoner)
Mihály Kormos	...	Schlojme

Storyline

Two days in the life of Saul Auslander, Hungarian prisoner working as a member of the Sonderkommando at one of the Auschwitz Crematoriums who, to bury the corpse of a boy he takes for his son, tries to carry out his impossible deed: salvage the body and find a rabbi to bury it. While the Sonderkommando is to be liquidated at any moment, Saul turns away of the living and their plans of rebellion to save the remains of a son he never took care of when he was still alive.

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Plot Keywords:

prisoner | auschwitz | corpse | hungarian | prison revolt | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent content, and some graphic nudity.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Spain]

Country:

Hungary

Language:

Hungarian Yiddish German Russian Polish French Greek Slovak Hebrew

Release Date:

11 June 2015 (Hungary)

Also Known As:

El hijo de Saúl

Filming Locations:

Hungary

Box Office

Budget:

HUF 280,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$37,930, 20 December 2015, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,777,043

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,659,121

Company Credits

Production Co:

Laokoon Filmgroup, Hungarian National Film Fund, Sam Spiegel International Lab

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the fictitious main character Saul Ausländer has many connotations. "Saul" is a well-known biblical name, while "Ausländer" is a Jewish name similar to the name of acclaimed Israeli historian and Third Reich expert Saul Friedländer. "Ausländer" is also a common word in the German language and means 'foreigner'.

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Goofs

[All goofs for this title are spoilers.]

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Quotes

Abraham Warszawski: You failed the living for the dead.
Saul Ausländer: We are dead already.

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Connections

Featured in Renegade Cut: Son of Saul (2017)

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Soundtracks

Dream Faces
Written by William Marshall Hutchison
Performed by Elizabeth Spencer

User Reviews

A bit disappointing to be honest

This movie is not taken on lightly as an audience member.

To classify it as 'entertainment' would certainly be wrong because the subject matter is so uncompromisingly challenging.

I wanted to love it unreservedly for the bravery of its content but I'm afraid I was left a little cold.

The film is shot in square format (possibly 4:3) which is immediately disarming and unusual (the last time I saw this was in the very different Wes Anderson's Grand Budapest Hotel) and it's used effectively because it gives the viewer a voyeuristic look into the mayhem that is Dachau where the movie is set. It also helps the director from a budgetary point of view because it eschews the need for expensive wide shots.

The opening scenes are astonishingly harrowing as we see the "pieces" of Jewish bodies essentially processed through the factory of death with disturbing, off screen, dog barks, German soldier orders and mechanical noise. It's brutal and affecting in the extreme.

In some ways this is what I grotesquely wanted from the movie. I wanted to be horrified like no horror movie could achieve.

Forgive me for this but it didn't happen. Yes, the mood was grotesque thanks, in particular, to the extraordinary sound design, but on screen I felt it shirked its potential too much.

In the end this voyeuristic cinematography ultimately becomes both tiresome and limiting.

The fundamental weakness of the movie, in my opinion, is in the storyline. Frankly it's not that credible and doesn't stack up. The main protagonist (Saul) discovers his (illegitimate?) son as a gas chamber survivor and smuggles him out of the situation to seek a Rabbi to give him a proper Jewish burial.

This leads to a sequence of events that side stories with an undercover camp breakout in which he is also inexplicably involved.

Sorry, it's not credible.

And Géza Röhrig as the lead didn't really do it for me. And so the early wonderment of the movie, it really is very moving, starts to erode and gradually descends into incredibility.

I love what this movie stands for. I respect every iota of it.

I just didn't think it was particularly good overall.