The story of the Sonderkommando, the "special units" of Jewish prisoners in Nazi death camps forced to assist with the exterminations of the Final Solution, has been little-told in the cinema. And it would overstate the case to say that this Hungarian film, which won the second prize at Cannes
Movie review: Son of Saul
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Son of Saul has been nominated for 2016 Oscar Best Foreign Film. Photo / Supplied

At first we are not sure why: the title offers a clue, but the film is far from unambiguous about the truth of the matter. Still, Saul becomes obsessed with ensuring a decent burial for the boy and finding a rabbi to say Kaddish for him.
We are hauled along on a hellish ride, as Nemes keeps us constantly off balance with blurred action, switching languages and withholding subtitles.
An often gut-wrenching work of precocious mastery, it's as close as the cinema has ever been to the middle of the Holocaust. If you can bear it, you will not soon forget it.
Cast: Geza Rohrig, Levente Molnar, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont, Sandor Zsoter
Director: Laszlo Nemes
Running time: 107 mins
Rating: R16 (violence, cruelty, content that may disturb) In German, Hungarian, Yiddish and Polish with English subtitles
Verdict: A gut-wrenching work of precocious mastery