Reflections on Son of Saul?

re·flec·tion
rəˈflekSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: reflection

2.
serious thought or consideration.
"he doesn't get much time for reflection"
synonyms: thought, thinking, consideration, contemplation, deliberation, pondering, meditation, musing, rumination; formalcogitation
"after some reflection, he turned it down"
an idea about something, especially one that is written down or expressed.
"reflections on human destiny and art"
synonyms: opinion, thought, view, belief, feeling, idea, impression, conclusion, assessment; More
comment, observation, remark
"write down your reflections"

Loved it when I watched but that was years ago

Didn't enjoy the camera style, square shots where the character's back always linger on the screen makes me disconnected from the story. I can't recall much from the movie now...

So is the movie on your avatar.

I liked it a lot, but with reservations. I think the way it's shot is genius, it makes it less about the holocaust specifically, and more about the nightmare odyssey of this one man, thus giving it a universal quality that could apply to anyone anywhere. Being shot like that obviously puts a lot of pressure on the leading man, and Rohrig's performance is up to the task, there's no phoniness, no trace of a lie in anything he does, and his dead eyed, almost dehumanized zombie of a face makes as much of an impact in this movie as anything else.

Still, I think some of the writing lets it down a bit. I remember finding some bits just stretching credibility, which for a film so grounded in reality really takes away from it. I felt the pretty heavily plotted nature of it while keeping the whole thing massively engrossing and watchable also just kind of took away from that sense of horrific reality they seemed to be going for. I also felt that for a film so heavily reliant on its sound there were a couple of times where it sounded downright canned, and not remotely convincing. In a film less reliant on its audio you might not even notice it/it might not matter, but in a film like this it really stood out.

Bad.

The concept is very interesting. It does the only thing possible to make the holocaust remotely tangible and it's quite consistent about that. But honestly in the end it suffers from the same fate as other holocaust films, you can't make a good film about it because you inadvertedly fictionalize and trivialize it. Schindler's List evades this by being a film on the survivors and Shoah evades it by being about the holocaust but not really a holocaust film in and by itself because no archive material from the actual holocaust is used. Night and Fog is similar, it's all reflection and that's how the event gets the neccessary gravitas, in Son of Saul it partly has that detachment from the event because of the POV camera but it also does actually show a fictional account of the holocaust which ends up being more draining than anything else. I think the film could have won a lot by taking place in a fictional scenario. The film felt very plotted already but at the same time dampened in that regard which honestly made the film somewhat boring. They could have gone more lose in a fictional scenario because as the film is it on one hand tries to tell a story and on the other hand tries to visualize the Holocaust. I really liked the humanist story of Saul searching for his son but the other stuff didn't do that much for me safe for the very dynamic scenes which really had a dense claustrophobic sense (because so much happens around you and you can't see what, complete tunnel vision - when there was little to see it did not feel claustrophobic).

Very much of a fan - I think it absolutely achieved what it set out to do, it's very absorbing and truly harrowing. The 3 things it has going for it that really drag it close to greatness are the way it's filmed - really excellent decision to personalise a journey that when made too broad could really diminish any emotional impact. Rohrig - the film relies on his performance in a way that no other film really does in 2015, brilliant understated work, every pained facial expression is totally convincing. Sound Design - I think everyone knows what goes on in the background and the decision to let us experience it aurally as opposed to showing us everything is one that completely works for me, and really adds a layer of horror to it all.

I think that the ending leaves a little bit to be desired and the limits could have been pushed further, but that's only if I'm looking for a few negatives.

I don't think a film such as this would ever be something I considered an all-time favourite simply because I prefer films a bit broader in scope, a wider narrative and an element of rewatchability but I can't really take too many points off it, it's a strong 8/10 for me.

Schindler, but SOS had a lot of depressing imagery and scenes as well. Neither is great for rewatches, lets just say.