Son of Saul

Set in the Auschwitz death camp in October 1944, this powerful, poignant story revolves around Hungarian Jewish prisoner Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig). Saul is a member of the Sonderkommando—a group of prisoners assigned the grim tasks of carrying corpses from the gas chamber to the crematorium and then carting away the ashes to be discarded. As Allied Forces draw closer, the pace of killing is accelerated. Among the dead, Saul finds the body of a young boy he claims as his son, and he becomes obsessed with finding a rabbi to say Kaddish (the prayer for the dead) to give the child a proper burial. Saul's sense of urgency is further heightened by his cohorts' plans for an upcoming Sonderkommando rebellion. Inspired by Voices from Beneath the Ashes, a collection of true tales from Auschwitz published in Jean-Paul Sartre's periodical Les Temps Modernes, Hungarian-born writer-director Laszlo Nemes's Oscar winner reveals the horror solely through Saul's perspective, consigning the violence to the unfocused background, along with the desperate wailing and persistent screaming (the film has no musical score, adding to the chilling effect). Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director László Nemes, star Géza Röhrig, and cinematographer Mátyás Erdély, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a “Q&A at the Museum of Tolerance” (64 min.), a deleted scene (2 min.), and a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a fine extras package for this Oscar winner.] (S. Granger)