7.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In the horror of 1944 Auschwitz concentration camp, prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.
Starring: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont, Jerzy WalczakDrama | 100% |
Foreign | 98% |
History | 22% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Hungarian: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Son of Saul is almost too difficult to watch, but it's too good and too rewarding not to watch. Director László Nemes, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Clara Royer, has crafted a bleak but purposeful masterpiece with his debut feature that earned an Oscar for Best Foreign Language film. The film takes audiences inside the Nazi concentration camps and explores a little-known facet of life inside for a select few prisoners who were privy to the brutality and inhumanity that ultimately cost six million Jews their lives. Through its intimate and immediate discomforts is an unforgettable film about the search for a sliver of humanity in a place where none otherwise exists.
All he can do is stare.
As noted above, visuals are key to Son of Saul. The Blu-ray's 1080p transfer, framed at approximately 4x3 (with curved edges that give the movie a look of an old photograph or slide, perhaps), is dismal and bleak but reflective of the movie's director-intended appearance. Details are fine, though never quite so pristine and precise as to take attention away from the movie proper. Frayed prisoner garments, heavier Nazi apparel, facial lines, concrete walls in the chambers, and other assorted bits are sufficiently tactile and well defined. The color scheme is bleak and dreary. The brightest colors come by way of leafy greens and the rather subdued red "X" symbols on the backs of the Sonderkommando. Otherwise, it's a rather ugly collection of drab grays, greens, and pasty flesh tones. Black levels are fundamentally deep but a little prone to crush in shadowy, intimate corners. Film grain is never intrusive and compression artifacts are never a concern.
Son of Saul's Hungarian language DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack (English subtitles are automatically selected upon movie playback) is tirelessly engaging. The movie uses sound design more than anything else to more fully shape the world around Saul. Rarely does the camera pull away from intimate character close-ups, making the aural component critical in fully shaping the movie. The track essentially fills in blanks that the audience doesn't see. Trucks rumble into the picture. Victims scream in agony off to the side. Workers furiously scrub the chamber around Saul. Industrial sounds of heavy iron and metal doors creak open and slam shut. Chatter and lighter background elements in several exterior scenes bring added life to the track. Dialogue is presented in a center focused, straightforward manner with fine clarity and presentation above surrounding details.
Son of Saul contains a commentary, deleted scenes, a trailer, and an hour-long interview. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase.
Son of Saul is a deeply, darkly serious film that's as immediately disturbing as any film before it but more emotionally rewarding than many. The film's ability to so precisely convey its story and themes by way of the performances and visuals is remarkable. László Nemes has, in one film, proven himself a filmmaker with incredible vision and understanding of how the medium -- the imagery, the words, the performances, the manner in which it's assembled and presented on the screen and around the screen by sound -- can so precisely work together to construct one of the most important movies about the holocaust. Sony's Blu-ray release presents the movie with detailed and immersive audio. Video quality isn't appealing, but it's effective within the movie's contextual needs. Supplements are small in quantity but excellent in quality. Highly recommended, though this isn't a movie with especially high replay value, as good as it is.
2019
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