Son of Saul
Son of Saul | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | László Nemes |
Produced by |
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Written by |
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Starring |
Géza Röhrig Levente Molnár Urs Rechn |
Music by | László Melis |
Cinematography | Mátyás Erdély |
Edited by | Matthieu Taponier |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | Mozinet |
Release dates |
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Running time | 107 minutes[1] |
Country | Hungary |
Language |
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Budget | €1.5 million[2] |
Box office | $5.6 million[3] |
Son of Saul (Hungarian: Saul fia) is a 2015 Hungarian drama film directed by László Nemes and co-written by Nemes and Clara Royer. It is set in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II, and follows a day-and-a-half in the life of Saul Ausländer (played by Géza Röhrig), a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando.[4]
The film premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival,[5] where it won the Grand Prix.[6] It was also shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[7] The film won the award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.[8][9] It is the ninth Hungarian film to be nominated for the award, and the first one since István Szabó's Hanussen in 1988. It is the second Hungarian film to win the award, the first one being Szabó's Mephisto in 1981.[10] It also won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film,[11] becoming the first Hungarian film to win the award.[12]
Plot
In October 1944, Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig), a Hungarian-Jewish prisoner in the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz, works as a Sonderkommando member, burning the dead. One day, he finds the body of a boy he takes for his son. The boy's corpse is then designated for an autopsy, since he was still breathing after having been gassed in one of the camp's gas chambers. Saul is then instructed to take the boy to the prison doctor, Miklós (Sándor Zsótér). He is able to convince Miklos not to perform the autopsy. Saul then secretly removes the boy's body, which he has placed in a sack, and takes the body back to his own barracks. Saul intends to give the boy a proper Jewish burial, and, for this, he must find a rabbi. He goes to a rabbi who works at a stove near the gas chamber but is unsatisfied by his responses.
Another member of the Sonderkommando, Abraham (Levente Molnár), talks about a rebellion against the SS-guards with Oberkapo Biedermann (Urs Rechn). While Abraham advocates an uprising, Biedermann prefers a plan to photograph the camp's atrocities and to smuggle the pictures outside in order to attract attention and help. Saul asks for another rabbi to help him bury the body and Abraham tells him of the Renegade who is Greek and supposedly a rabbi. Saul in return offers his assistance in their plan and is instructed to go with another prisoner to a shack in the camp and is given a piece of jewelry for use as a bribe in case he's caught.
When Saul and the other prisoner arrive at the shack, Saul pretends to fix the front door's lock, to avoid suspicion. The other prisoner then takes out a camera to the back of the shack and starts to take pictures of burning corpses. Saul then hears guards coming and hides the camera outside in a drain. The guards search the shack, only to find nothing.
A truck for another Sonderkommando unit then arrives on the scene. Saul sneaks onto the truck, which is heading to a nearby riverbank, where the prisoners are ordered to put ashes from the crematoriums into the river. Saul finds the Renegade, but the Renegade refuses to help him. Saul then threatens to tell the Oberkapo of the unit, Mietek (Kamil Dobrowolski), that the Renegade is a rabbi by reciting the Kiddush. Terrified, the rabbi jumps into the river in an attempt to drown himself. Saul manages to bring the Renegade back to the riverbank and both are then taken to the SS-commandant of the unit (Christian Harting). After an interrogation and cynical conversation, the Renegade is executed and Saul is allowed to go back to the unit.
Saul is then confronted by Mietek. He is angry because Saul had sneaked away to find a rabbi. To mollify Mietek, Saul gives him the jewelry which was to be used as a bribe in the camera incident. Back at the camp, Saul lines up for roll call, where Abraham gives him more instructions. Saul is told to head to the women's camp, where he will pick up gunpowder from a prisoner who had smuggled it into the camp. However, before going to the women's camp, Saul heads to Miklos' office near the autopsy room. Suddenly, a group of Nazi physicians walk into the room. One of the physicians pushes Saul around and makes a mockery of Jewish dances. He then orders Saul out of the room. Saul goes to the women's camp where he picks up the gunpowder from Ella (Juli Jakab).
As he leaves the women's camp, he gets caught up in a crowd of newly- arrived Hungarian Jews. They are being led into the woods where they will be shot and burned. Saul again looks for a rabbi among the arrivals. A French man named Braun (Todd Charmont), approaches him and convinces Saul that he is a rabbi. Saul disguises him as a member of the Sonderkommando and sneaks Braun into the camp. When Saul arrives at the camp he realizes that during the turmoil in the woods he has lost the gunpowder.
That same night Saul is ordered to clean the dinner-tables by SS-commandant Voss (Uwe Lauer). Biedermann walks in and is ordered to write up a list of names and then give it to Voss. This leads Biedermann to believe that his unit will soon be gassed.The next morning during roll call, Miklos , who has found out that Saul has removed the boy's body, confronts Saul. He tells Saul that he needs a replacement body, similar to the one Saul has taken.
After detecting that Biedermann was killed by the SS, Abraham starts a riot with the other prisoners and they attack the SS-guards, starting a rebellion. Shortly after destroying one of the crematoriums, Saul, Braun and other prisoners manage to escape and head into the woods, Saul is carrying the body of his alleged son. When they reach a river Saul finds a chance to bury the body. Only then does he discover that the purported rabbi Braun is a fraud when he can't recite the Kaddish. Saul then hears guards coming with dogs, and, still carrying the sack, jumps into the river. When the body falls out of his grasp, he goes after it, only to be pulled out of the river by another prisoner. The body floats away. When the prisoners arrive at a shed in the forest, they start to discuss a plan to join the Polish resistance. Saul then sees a young peasant boy peeking into the shed and smiles at him. When the boy runs away, the camp's guards can be seen passing by with guns. Gunshots can be heard as the camera follows the boy into the woods.
Cast
- Géza Röhrig as Saul
- Levente Molnár as Abraham
- Urs Rechn as Oberkapo Biedermann
- Sándor Zsótér as Doctor Miklós Nyiszli
- Todd Charmont as false Rabbi Braun
- Uwe Lauer as SS-Oberscharführer Voss
- Christian Harting as SS-Oberscharführer Busch
- Kamil Dobrowolski as Oberkapo Mietek
- Jerzy Walczak as Rabbi Frankel
- Marcin Czarnik as Feigenbaum
- Attila Fritz as Yankl
- Amitai Kedar as Hirsch
- Márton Ágh as Renegade/Apikoyres
- Levente Orbán as Russian Prisoner
- Tom Pilath as SS-Oberscharführer
- Mihály Kormos as Kapo Schlojme
- Juli Jakab as Ella
- Mendy Cahan as Sonderkommanando
- Björn Freiberg as Extra
Production
Development
Nemes conceived of the film from the book The Scrolls of Auschwitz, a collection of testimonies by Sonderkommando members,[13] after discovering it during the production of Béla Tarr's The Man from London in 2005 when he was working as Tarr's assistant.[2][14] Nemes started working on the screenplay with Royer in 2010 and completed the first draft in 2011.[2][15] The writers spent several years on research, while historians such as Gideon Greif, Philippe Mesnard and Zoltán Vági provided support for the film.[14][15] Prof. Gideon Greif's book We Wept without Tears inspired director László Nemes to create a film dedicated to the Sonderkommando, the most delicate, complicated and sensitive topic within the Holocaust.[16]
The project struggled to find its financiers due to the film's unconventional approach and Nemes's lack of experience in directing a feature film.[2][17] Originally intended to be a French production with a French protagonist, the film was produced entirely in Hungary.[2][17][18] After potential co-production partners in France, Israel, Germany and Austria turned down the project, the €1.5 million budget was ultimately covered by the Hungarian National Film Fund, Hungarian tax credits and the Claims Conference, accounting respectively for 70%, 25% and 5%.[2][17][19]
Casting
Nemes insisted on casting actors who spoke their characters' own languages.[17] New York City-based Hungarian poet Géza Röhrig, who had not acted in film since the 1980s, was cast as the main character, Saul, after being considered originally for a supporting role.[2][17]
Filming
The film was shot on 35 mm film in 28 days in Budafok, Budapest.[2][14][20] A 40 mm lens and the Academy aspect ratio of 1.375:1 were adopted to realise shallow focus and a portrait-like narrow field of vision.[21][22]
László Rajk, who also worked on the permanent Hungarian exhibition at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, designed the re-creation of the crematoria.[2]
Post-production
The film took five months of sound design.[21] Human voices in eight languages were recorded and attached to the original recording of the production.[2][21] Sound designer Tamás Zányi described the sound in the film "as a sort of acoustic counterpoint to the intentionally narrowed imagery".[2]
Release
The film premiered in competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival on 15 May 2015,[5] where it won the Grand Prix.[6] The filmmakers initially tried to premiere the film at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival, but after the festival offered them a spot only in the Panorama section, not in the main competition, they decided to refuse the proposal and instead aim for the Cannes competition.[17]
In Hungary, the film was released on 11 June 2015 and sold more than 142,000 tickets, placing it as the highest-grossing domestic film released since the slapstick comedy Üvegtigris 3 in 2010.[23]
Reception
Upon its release at Cannes, the film was met with critical acclaim.[24] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 96% approval rating based on reviews from 151 critics, with an average rating of 8.7 out of 10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Grimly intense yet thoroughly rewarding, Son of Saul offers an unforgettable viewing experience – and establishes director László Nemes as a talent to watch".[25] On Metacritic, the film has received a weighted average score of 89 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[26]
In his review for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw rated the film five out of five stars, calling it an "astonishing debut film" and "a horror movie of extraordinary focus and courage". He ended his review writing: "Nemes's film has found a way to create a fictional drama with a gaunt, fierce kind of courage – the kind of courage, perhaps, that it takes to watch it".[27] Writing for Time Out, Dave Calhoun also gave the film five out of five stars.[28] Indiewire's Eric Kohn awarded the film an A- rating, calling it "a remarkable refashioning of the Holocaust drama that reignites the setting with extraordinary immediacy".[29] In his review written for The Hollywood Reporter, Boyd van Hoeij praised the cinematography and the soundwork of the film. He writes: "Shot (and shown in Cannes) on 35mm, often in sickly greens and yellows and with deep shadows, Erdely's cinematography is one of the film's major assets, but it wouldn't be half as effective without the soundwork, which plays a major role in suggesting what is happening around Saul, with audiences often forced to rely on the sound to imagine the whole, horrible picture".[30] Writing for The Film Stage, Giovanni Marchini Camia gave the film an A rating, and called it "a towering landmark for filmic fictionalizations of the Holocaust".[31] A.A. Dowd of The A.V Club gave the film an A- rating, and praised the movie's unique perspective: "Son of Saul is the rare Holocaust drama that finds actual drama, and not just despair, in the living hell of a concentration camp". [...] "Son of Saul sees humanity in effort, identity in action; it watches someone with nothing, a man reduced to a statistic, get a piece of himself back, mostly by finding some meaning in a place of meaningless evil".[32]
Claude Lanzmann, director of the documentary Shoah, gave the film high praises,[33] stating that "it's a very new film, very original, very unusual. It's a film that gives a very real sense of what it was like to be in the Sonderkommando. It's not at all melodramatic. It's done with a very great modesty".[34] Philosopher Georges Didi-Huberman also praised the film, and he wrote a 25-page open letter to Nemes, which opened with "Your film, ‘Son of Saul,' is a monster. A necessary, coherent, beneficial, innocent monster".[34]
Nemes was questioned about the similarities between Son of Saul and the 2001 film The Grey Zone, with Nemes replying "But mine is an Anti-Grey Zone!"[35]
Accolades
At the Cannes Film Festival the film won the Grand Prix and the FIPRESCI Prize in the main competition section.[36][37] The film also won the François Chalais Prize and the Vulcan Award.[38][39][40] At the 88th Academy Awards, Son of Saul won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[9]
See also
- List of submissions to the 88th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Hungarian submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
- List of Holocaust films
References
- ↑ "Son of Saul (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Kilday, Gregg (16 November 2015). "How 'Son of Saul' Defied the Dangers of Re-Creating the Holocaust". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ "Saul fia (2015)". The Numbers. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
- ↑ "In ‘Son of Saul,’ Laszlo Nemes Expands the Language of Holocaust Films". The New York Times. 14 December 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
- 1 2 "2015 Official Selection". Cannes. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
- 1 2 Henry Barnes (24 May 2015). "Cannes 2015: Jacques Audiard's Dheepan wins the Palme d'Or". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ "Toronto to open with 'Demolition'; world premieres for 'Trumbo', 'The Program'". ScreenDaily. 28 July 2015. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- ↑ Ford, Rebecca (14 January 2016). "Oscar Nominations: The Complete List". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 January 2016.
- 1 2 3 Szalai, Georg (28 February 2016). "Oscars: Hungary Wins Its First Foreign-Language Honor Since Fall of Communism". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
- ↑ "Son of Saul: Foreign Language Film - Nominees". Oscars. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
- ↑ "Golden Globes: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. 11 January 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
- ↑ Nick Holdsworth (11 January 2016). "Golden Globes: Hungary Celebrates First-Ever Win for 'Son of Saul'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
- ↑ Chare, Nicolas; Wiliams, Dominic. "How Documents Buried by Jewish Prisoners at Auschwitz Tell the Story of Genocide". Slate: The Vault. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
- 1 2 3 "Son of Saul" (PDF). Films Distribution. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- 1 2 Chang, Kee (17 May 2015). "From the Archives: Son of Saul". Anthem Magazine. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Gross, Terry. "'Son Of Saul' Brings Viewers To The Heart Of The Nazi Death Machine At Auschwitz". npr. Retrieved 6 March 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Macnab, Geoffrey (13 November 2015). "Laszlo Nemes talks Hungary's Oscar submission 'Son Of Saul'". Screen Daily. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Barraclough, Leo (27 May 2015). "Cannes: ‘Son of Saul’ Epitomizes Spirit, Ambition of Hungarian Cinema, National Film Fund Chief Says". Variety. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Rodek, Hanns-Georg (26 May 2015). "Deutsche Verleiher meiden meinen Holocaust-Film". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Ács, Gábor (23 May 2015). "A Saul fia rendezőjével a díjeső után". Euronews (in Hungarian). Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- 1 2 3 Egan, Jack (7 December 2015). "Director László Nemes Goes Inside Auschwitz in Son of Saul". Below the Line. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Su, Zhuo-Ning (8 October 2015). "‘Son of Saul’ Director László Nemes on Capturing a Portrait of Hell and the Spiritual Experience of Cannes". The Film Stage. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Varga, Dénes (4 February 2016). "A Saul fia a legnézettebb magyar film az Üvegtigris 3 óta". Origo (in Hungarian). Retrieved 14 February 2016.
- ↑ Hudson, David (15 May 2015). "Daily - Cannes 2015 - Laszlo Nemes’s SON OF SAUL". Keyframe. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
- ↑ "Son of Saul (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
- ↑ "Son of Saul Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 22 January 2016.
- ↑ Peter Bradshaw. "Son of Saul review: an outstanding, excoriating look at evil in Auschwitz". the Guardian.
- ↑ "Son of Saul". Time Out London.
- ↑ Eric Kohn (14 May 2015). "Cannes Review: Terrifying 'Son of Saul' is Unlike Any Oth - Indiewire". Indiewire.
- ↑ Boyd van Hoeij. "'Son of Saul' ('Saul Fia'): Cannes Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ↑ "[Cannes Review] Son of Saul". The Film Stage.
- ↑ A.A. Dowd (17 December 2015). "The urgent Son Of Saul is a Holocaust drama like no other". The A.V Club.
- ↑ "‘Son of Saul’: A Holocaust film through a different lens". Jewish Journal.
- 1 2 "In ‘Son of Saul,’ Laszlo Nemes Expands the Language of Holocaust Films". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Cannes Grand Prix Winner “Son of Saul”: A Critical Review". The Huffington Post.
- 1 2 Rebecca Ford (24 May 2015). "Cannes: 'Dheepan' Wins the Palme d'Or". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- 1 2 Rebecca Ford and Rhonda Richards (23 May 2015). "Cannes: 'Son of Saul,' 'Masaan' Take Fipresci Prizes". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
- 1 2 "TOUTES LES RÉCOMPENSES DU FESTIVAL DE CANNES 2015". 23 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
- 1 2 "A Saul fia megkapta a Francois Chalais-díjat is" ['Son of Saul' receives the François Chalais Prize]. Népszabadság Online. 23 May 2015. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
- 1 2 Accreds (24 May 2015). "Cannes 2015: Vulcan Award of the Technical Artist to Tamas ZANYI, sound engineer for SON OF SAUL" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 May 2015.
- ↑ "ASC Awards: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
- ↑ ""Le fils de Saul", Grand Prix de l'Union de la Critique de Cinéma" (in French). RTBF. 10 January 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2016.
- ↑ Stone, Natalie (5 December 2015). "Boston Online Film Critics Snub 'Spotlight' for 'Mad Max'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
- ↑ Pond, Steve (6 December 2015). "‘Ex Machina,’ ‘Room’ Win Big at British Independent Film Awards". TheWrap. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
- ↑ Giardina, Carolyn (21 November 2015). "'Carol' Wins Golden Frog at Camerimage". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
- ↑ Académie des César (26 February 2016). "BIRDMAN, réalisé par Alejandro González Iñárritu, #César2016 du Meilleur Film Étranger". Twitter. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
- ↑ Dann Gire (16 December 2015). "'Mad Max: Fury Road' wins best picture from Chicago Film Critics". Daily Herald. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- ↑ "Critics’ Choice Movie Awards". 17 January 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
- ↑ Chase Whale. "DFW Film Critics Association Dish Out 2015 Awards - Dallas Observer". Dallas Observer. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- ↑ "DGA Announces Nominees for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2015". Directors Guild of America. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
- ↑ "‘Carol’ Sweeps Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Awards". Variety. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
- ↑ "Prix du Syndicat Français de la Critique 2015". Syndicat Français de la Critique. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
- ↑ "Golden Globe Nominations: The Complete List". The Hollywood Reporter. 10 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ↑ Densby, Andrew (9 January 2016). "Houston Film Critics award "Spotlight," "Revenant"". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
- ↑ Meena, Jang (27 February 2016). "Spirit Awards: 'Son of Saul' Wins Best International Film". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ↑ King, Susan (6 December 2015). "'Spotlight' named best of 2015 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn.". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
- ↑ ""Golden Camera 300" for Mátyás Erdély, the cinematographer of "Son of Saul"". Manaki Brothers Film Festival. Retrieved 28 January 2016.
- ↑ Lincoln, Ross A. (27 February 2016). "'The Revevant' & 'Mad Max: Fury Road' Tie At 2016 Golden Reel Awards: MPSE Winners List". Deadline.com. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- ↑ Child, Ben (2 December 2015). "Mad Max: Fury Road eyes Oscars run after victory at National Board of Review awards". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ↑ "'Carol' Takes Top Honors at New York Film Critics Awards". The Wall Street Journal. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
- ↑ Pond, Steve (14 December 2015). "Online Film Critics Say ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Is Best". TheWrap. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
- ↑ Chronicle Staff Report (14 December 2015). "S.F. Film Critics Circle honors ‘Spotlight’ and ‘Brooklyn’". SFGate. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
- ↑ Siegel, Tatiana (7 December 2015). "'Spotlight' Named Top Film by D.C.-Area Film Critics". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
External links
- Son of Saul at the Internet Movie Database
- Son of Saul at AllMovie
- Son of Saul at Box Office Mojo
- Son of Saul at Rotten Tomatoes
- Son of Saul at Metacritic
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