In 1944, a Sonderkommando prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau becomes convinced that a boy killed in the gas chamber is his son. He fixates on giving the child a proper Jewish burial, even as an uprising is being planned around him. László Nemes' debut is about one man's need to protect a single human act in the middle of an industrial atrocity.
Son of Saul is a 2015 drama, war and history film directed by László Nemes. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (1 narrative, 2 cinematography and 1 editing), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Children of Men uses several of the same techniques.
Limiting the film to what one character can see and know. The camera never goes where they couldn't be, so you share their blind spots and their vulnerability.
How this film uses it
The camera stays within arm's reach of Saul for the entire film. You see only what he sees and know only what he knows. The full workings of the camp appear only as a blur at the edges. The horror is exactly as present as he can bear to know it.
Where to see it
The gas chamber sequence. The camera stays on Saul's face outside the door. You hear the murders and never see them, because the film refuses to show what cannot be shown.
Keeping the worst violence outside the frame. You hear it or see its effects and other people's reactions, and your imagination does the rest.
How this film uses it
Nemes shoots the genocide at Auschwitz in shallow focus, where only a thin slice of the image is sharp, and at the edge of the frame. The atrocities are there, and they are deliberately left unclear. It is a moral and artistic decision. Nemes refuses to turn mass murder into a clear, readable movie image.
Where to see it
The out-of-focus bodies in the background of almost every frame. The dead are present and kept out of clear view. The camera's refusal to sharpen them is a form of respect.
Shooting with a handheld camera so the frame shakes and moves with the action. This documentary-style look, called cinema vérité, puts you uncomfortably close to the character.
How this film uses it
Mátyás Erdély's handheld camera stays physically close to Saul at all times, so when his body moves, the camera moves. The style puts you inside his bodily experience of a world designed to deny him one.
Where to see it
Saul moving through the undressing room. The crowd jostles the camera, and it stays with him as he makes his way through the human machinery of extermination.
Holding the camera on violence for much longer than is comfortable, with no cut to let you look away. Most films only show a quick glimpse.
How this film uses it
The film's first scene holds on the Sonderkommando work cycle: the bodies, the cleaning, the routine. It lasts long enough that you cannot watch it as spectacle. You can only take it as unbearable fact.
Where to see it
The opening sequence. It shows the killing cycle with no transition and no relief. The length denies you the merciful cut that would let you feel comfortable again.
Questions
Son of Saul: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Son of Saul use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Son of Saul (2015): Single POV Restriction, Off-Screen Atrocity, Handheld Cinema Vérité and Sustained Atrocity Duration.
Who directed Son of Saul?
László Nemes directed Son of Saul, released in 2015.
What films are similar to Son of Saul?
Films that share techniques with Son of Saul include Children of Men (2006), 12 Years a Slave (2013), First Man (2018), Sicario (2015).
