Geek of Oz

I watch hundreds of hours of cinema each year in order to find films like Son of Saul . Simply put, it’s remarkable; maybe even the best film I’ll see all year. It’s an unrelenting look at the holocaust from a its most disturbing perspective: exposing us to the inner machinations of a Nazi death camp. Truly disturbing and fascinating (in its depiction of human capacity for brutality) in equal measure. I’m still processing the effect this film has had on me. The film follows Saul Ausländer (Géza Röhrig), who is a Sonderkommando - an Hungarian Jew forced to work within the gas chambers at a death camp. His duties entail herding unsuspecting victims into processing rooms, where they strip naked on the promise of hot food and a ‘shower’. From there they are led to the gas chambers and Saul is forced to witness the fate of the victims time and time again as they are massacred with ruthless efficiency. All this changes when Saul identifies a body of an individual with whom he had a ...