Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, Son of Saulis an unforgettable Holocaust drama set inside Auschwitz, and the feature debut of László Nemes (son of director András Jeles and former assistant of Béla Tarr, which may account for Son of Saul‘s remarkable maturity).
It stars Géza Röhrig as Saul Ausländer, a Hungarian-Jewish prisoner in Auschwitz whose horrific job in the Sonderkommando – a group of prisoners given special tasks and minor privileges – is to help burn the camp’s dead.
Finding a body he takes to be his son’s, he tries to arrange a clandestine burial. Meanwhile other members of the Sonderkommando are planning to destroy the crematorium; but Saul stays focused on his personal quest: to grant his son a proper burial, and so restore his humanity.
Placing his camera mainly on Saul’s agonised face, Nemes forces us to witness his unutterable suffering amid scenes of complete emotional and moral devastation – making Son of Saul an uncompromising watch that spares viewers none of the Holocaust’s horror, and marks Nemes out as a notable new voice in cinema.