"Son of Thor"

Elenora 2022-03-21 09:02:30

This morning, I ran to watch the movie "Son of Sol" and watched it in one breath. Although I received a phone call that was slightly disturbed, the overall viewing was relatively coherent. Last night, I revised the plan for reading, watching, watching, and writing. It is necessary to strengthen the thinking of reading and watching movies and enhance the sense of gain. From today onwards, watching the film in the morning and reading in the evening, so this film has become the first practice object of the new plan.

This is a Hungarian film that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2016. The film reflects what happened in the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. The protagonist Sol, a Hungarian Jew, was in charge of transporting corpses in a contingent of prisoners in a concentration camp. The contingent was just a tool chosen by the Nazis to do their jobs. They had more freedom than other prisoners. They could live for a few more months, but they had to be executed as well. One day, while at work, Sol witnessed a young boy who had survived the gas chamber being strangled by a doctor. He thought it was his son. He had to dispose of the body according to the Jewish burial ritual, and the key was to preside over a Jewish rabbi. So he hid the body and went to find the Jewish rabbi.

The film revolves around this clue, and Sol is determined to achieve his goal. It can be described as stubborn or obsessive. No matter how questioned or dissuaded some people in the film were, they couldn't shake Saul, and they were unmoved in the face of life and death. But Sol's actions seriously affected others, and he found a Greek rabbi who was shot. The people of the task force planned a riot before being executed, and arranged for Sol to get back the things used for the blasting. As a result, Sol, who was concentrating on finding the rabbi, lost it, which seriously affected the riot.

In the chaotic riot, Sol carried his son's body and escaped from the concentration camp. During the burial, he realized that the rabbi he had rescued after all his hard work did not understand the rules and was not a real rabbi, and the burial was unsuccessful. At the end of the film, a little boy and Sol smiled at each other, as if implying something. In the shot of the little boy running into the forest, there are gunshots from the Nazis, suggesting that Sol and the others who escaped were killed, and the film ended.

I have seen many films about Jews in concentration camps. The most famous one is "Schindler's List". The theme is very clear. It not only reflects the dark life in the concentration camps and the scenes of the Jews being poisoned, but also highlights the existence of the hand of justice. What does "Son of Thor" mean? The film uses a lot of shots that combine reality and reality, and there are many shots that shake at close range, probably not only to express the emotional fluctuations in the protagonist's heart, but also to objectively show the cruel reality. The blurry footage is mostly cruel reality, such as the crowd brought into the gas chamber, the large number of naked corpses, and the scenes of people being shot at random. It makes people feel the brutal conditions faced by the Jews in the concentration camps.

Too many similar themes directly use clear lens language to show bloody scenes, although they can shock the audience, but if they watch too much, the effect will be much worse. The director of this film has taken a different approach. Will the same theme and different expression techniques have different effects?

Regarding Sol's obsession, it will also be a controversial topic. Sol is obsessed with fulfilling his ideas, regardless of the lives of other victims and his own. Do you want to express that normal people are forced to split their personalities in that extremely harsh environment? Watching the film normally understands what Sol is doing does seem like a lunatic. Realistically speaking, isn't it normal to not treat people as human beings at all in that kind of environment, killing people like numbness, and driving people crazy?

March 1, 2020

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Extended Reading

Son of Saul quotes

  • Abraham Warszawski: Who's this boy?

    Saul Ausländer: My son.

    Abraham Warszawski: But you have no son.

    Saul Ausländer: I do. I have to bury him.

    Abraham Warszawski: You don't need a rabbi for that.

    Saul Ausländer: At least he'll do what's right.

  • Saul Ausländer: I have to take care of my son. He's not from my wife.

    Abraham Warszawski: When did you last see him?

    [pause]

    Abraham Warszawski: You have no son.