Thanks for your well-considered and thoughtful review. I also preferred The Grey Zone, which earned my respect for not indulging in "Auschwitz-porn" (that Saul fia seems to wallow in) while delving into the compelling mystery of the Sonderkommando revolt. For me also, this was the main reason I watched this film - and there were some well-delivered moments regarding that subject, but just too few. As to the unique style of the film, I was reminded of the first few minutes of Costa-Gavros' Amen - a brief, horrifying, blurry glimpse into a hell that we could never truly grasp without having lived it and had no business gawking at. It's a view that we are immediately denied in order to spend the balance of the film looking at the extraordinary ethical and moral questions surrounding the holocaust- which is what really matters here, right? Saul fia in many ways is just a feature length expansion of those first few minutes of Costa-Gavra's film that doesn't seem to go anywhere at all or have anything to say.
I confess, I watched the whole thing, because I wanted to see where it was going. But I felt a little dirty afterwards. I understand that these are not images that should ever be exploited as entertainment or as art. I hate to think that people are now getting their history from films like this, rather than going to the sources first, like Night and Fog, Shoah, or George Steven's documentary or from first hand written accounts like the eye opening "This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen".
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