Son of Saul (2015)

• Acting: 10 
• Dialogue: 9 
• Score(music): There is no music
• Cinematography: 10 
• Repeatable/Rewatchable: Yes!

Before I saw Son of Saul, I had heard vaguely how it won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. But nothing could prepare me for the beautiful film I saw. The movie tells the story of Saul, a Hungarian working in a concentration camp. He finds the body of his son, and tries to give him a proper burial. There is almost no music in this film, which adds to the rawness of the whole thing.

There is almost a POV story development, and it helps to make more intimate the horrors of WW2, especially what the Jews had to go through. I counted about only 10 cuts in the entire film, so virtually every scene is long, filled with rugged people whispering to each other. You can literally feel their suffering. And that’s how you spot a good movie: it sells an emotion to you. One of standout scenes for me was when the Nazis were shooting Jews and dumping them in pits to be burned. Just look at these visuals.

But my best scene has to be the very last scene. Without revealing too much, I will just say that Saul’s smile to me bore the pain, and hope of every Jew that lived through that nightmare. Just look at those eyes.