Son of Saul (2015)

Son of Saul is a drama/thriller in which follows the main character Saul a Hungarian jew who is stuck in a Nazi prisoner of war camp set in 1944. Saul and group of many others are forced to help the Germans in a mass exterminating of other captured Jews that are brought to the camp. On this occasion, Saul recognises a corpse and from there the story builds.

The storyline is somewhat hard to decipher as show much is happening within the scene. At most parts, it's confusing as there so much happening within the scene that it's hard to focus on one specific thing. But in a way, this creates the atmosphere that the Jewish prisoner of war would be in. Everyone having something personally and so much happening that there isn't really a focal point. But Saul's continues motive is clear but the concept of why and who the person is isn't clear to audiences.

One visual aspect that I liked about the film was the way everything was framed. The stand film aspect ratio is 16:9 but in this case, the film aspect ratio is that of 1:1. At first, you wouldn't think why they did this but I believe that there is a reason for it. When the film first began everything from tv to motion picture was filmed on 1:1 aspect ratio, and I believe this film is trying to recreate the feeling of being back in that time. It in a way is changing the film to become that of a documentary quality. I find it a very clever way of making the film feel like an older documentary.

The portrayal of the character is so lifelike that it physically makes the character feel like a true person. There’s so much emotion in Saul that you physically feel for the character, even other character distress and being in constant horror. The film puts you into the physical torture and torment that the Jews went through during World War 2. It sincerely makes you remember those that went through the Holocaust and was lost.

Overall I think the film is very well made and is a good memorial to those that suffered and lost. I would highly recommend it.