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'Son of Saul' Searches for Humanity During the Holocaust

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Son of Saul Press Kit
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Mongrel Media

Son of Saul tells a harrowing Holocaust story like you’ve never seen before. The movie follows Saul Auslander, a Hungarian that is part of a group of isolated Jewish prisoners forced to assist the Nazis in their large-scale extermination. 

While working in one of the crematoriums, Saul discovers the body of a boy he takes for his son, and it becomes his mission to find a rabbi to help give the boy a proper burial amidst the daily turmoil of the camp.

The film is also this year’s Oscar winner for best foreign film.

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"The film set entirely in a death camp, unlike Schindler's List," says film contributor Dave Lurhssen. "This movie doesn't let you out."

The tight, over-the-shoulder camera work of the film along with the portrayal of working prisoners trying to navigate their survival in the film offers a new perspective completely distinct from other Holocaust films. "It's very much about moral choices under extremely restricted circumstances," says Luhrssen.

Audrey Nowakowski hosts and produces Lake Effect. She joined WUWM in 2014.