As of right now the list of films submitted for consideration for Best Foreign Language feature at this year’s Oscars is made up of only one film, László Nemes‘ Son of Saul out of Hungary. Loved by many at the Cannes Film Festival and considered a frontrunner for the Palme d’Or, the film didn’t take home the fest’s top prize, but did walk away with the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI awards.
Sony Classics snatched the film up for a domestic release and will certainly be pushing hard for that Foreign Language nomination, but some are even thinking it has a shot at Best Picture and, why not? Here’s the synopsis:
October 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau. Saul Auslander is a Hungarian member of the Sonderkommando, the group of Jewish prisoners isolated from the camp and forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination.
While working in one of the crematoriums, Saul discovers the corpse of a boy he takes for his son. As the Sonderkommando plans a rebellion, Saul decides to carry out an impossible task: save the child’s body from the flames, find a rabbi to recite the mourner’s Kaddish and offer the boy a proper burial.
The film stars Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár and Urs Rechn and does not yet have a release date. Watch the first international trailer below and let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.
