Son of Saul

Synopsis: Two days in the life of Saul Auslander, Hungarian prisoner working as a member of the Sonderkommando at one of the Auschwitz Crematoriums who, to bury the corpse of a boy he takes for his son, tries to carry out his impossible deed: salvage the body and find a rabbi to bury it. While the Sonderkommando is to be liquidated at any moment, Saul turns away of the living and their plans of rebellion to save the remains of a son he never took care of when he was still alive.

Genre: Drama,War

Director(s):László Nemes

Actors:Géza Röhrig,Levente Molnár,Urs Rechn,Todd Charmont

Production: Sony Pictures Classics

Won 1 Oscar. Another 58 wins & 54 nominations.


IMDB:: 7.5
Metacritic:: 89
Rotten Tomatoes:: 96%

Son of Saul Movie Quotes »

Collection Edit Watch PDF Buy

: R
Year:: 2015
: 107 min
: 860,398 Views

I/E.GROVE /UNDRESSING ROOM /PASSAGE - MORNING
IN A GROVE:
Trees.
Agentle warmlight shines on the face of a 40 year-old
looking man, as hewalks in whatseems to be a grove.
His name isSAUL AUSLANDER. Hewears awhite shirt under his +
dark jacket, with a half-hiddennumber on it: B-7005. On the +
back of his jacket, a red X is painted. Hewears a flat +
civilian hat. Hewalks with determination, at aregular pace,
his lips tight. Thetrees around give someshelter from the
sun,birds singamidst the branches.
Hestops for awhile andglances around, at someolder people
aroundtaking offtheir heavy winter coats,sitting on the
grass. Thevoices of children,calling for water, can be
heard. AYOUNG BOY stands on the side,carrying awater can. +
Sounds ofbranch cracking, ofsteps on the ground.Footsteps +
of many more people.Pieces ofwords can be heard, in a
continuoushumming ofdifferent voices and languages.
Behind Saul,children play.Someone comes to him andtalks to
him, hemumbles something,looks away andmoves on.
Fourother SONDERKOMMANDO PRISONERS pass Saul by. They all +
startinstructing thecivilians to get up and leave. The +
civilians aregathered in rows of 5, andpushed to the road. +
ThreeSOLDIERS appear on the side, waiting. +
Orders areshouted and thegroup starts advancing on the
slightslope of adusty road.
TheSonderkommando prisoners accompany thecivilians who +
carry suitcases, bundles, cans andother objects. Somepeople +
carry infants. We onlycatch glimpses of some of thefaces +
and clothes.These are weary,slightly disorientated faces, +
most of them in dark-coloredheavy clothes. +
On Saul’s right, alarge GROUP OF PEOPLE walks as well,
quietly.
Saullooks in thedirection of thepeople beside him, as if
to check. His paceslows down,other people catch up with
him. Some of themstare at him. Saul doesn’tengage with
them.
Thegroup comes to a halt. Saulfaces them, butkeeps on
walking quietly.Further down some of thepeople have taken
offtheir heavy winter coats and sit on the grass.
ShootingDraft April 25, 2014
2.
Sauladvances in themidst of aCROWD ofagitated people, and
brieflylooks to the side at kneeling,crying figures. +
The roadturns to an openrange where isolated PEOPLE in gray
andgreen clothes point in one direction, at thechaos of
whirlinghumans in heavy, darkclothes andcarrying suitcases
or bundles.
Orders areshouted and repeated,first in German,followed by
other languages.
In the background,civilians get off fromwagons of a
merchandise train.Smoke rises from afar.Heaps ofpersonal +
belongings pile up next to the train.OLD andCROOKED PEOPLE +
are put onto one TRUCK. Thetruck departs anddraws nearer. +
Anothertruck isloaded withpersonal belongings. +
Therhythm of theadvancing accelerates, Sonderkommando
prisonersreacting toGerman orders bypushing the people
further.
Suddenly, Saul and hiscomrades from theSonderkommando +
suddenly stop. They take offtheir flat hats andlower their +
heads. TwoSS OFFICERS pass them by. +
Saul goes on. +
Saulwalks faster,advancing in thelarge crowd.
Near the crowd,OLD PEOPLE disembark from amilitary truck. +
Hepasses agroup ofpeople undressing.
Saulwalks down a fewsteps that lead to alarge underground
hall.
INTHE UNDERGROUND HALL (UNDRESSING HALL)
Afeeble artificial light replaces thesunlight that fades
away.People frombehind enter the hall.
In a distance, thevoice of anSS MAN catches the attention
of thepeople around Saul - a long,quietly uttered monologue
in German. Saulremains on the side of the underground, he
watches the people. His facebarely reflects any expression
but tiredness.
Thevoice stops talking. Thepeople next to Saulstart doing
something. Next to Saul, aMAN puts twofingers on the
highestbutton of hismessy shirt and hesitates. Saul looks
at the man, whofinally undoes his shirt. Saulleans and
picks up the man’sclothes on the ground. Hegathers more of
theclothes lying on theground and puts them on the side.
ShootingDraft April 25, 2014
3.
AMAN in ajacket with apainted red X over it ishelping an
ELDERLYWOMAN toremove pins from a shawl. Next to them,
otherpeople go on undressing.Naked women pass him by and
pudently hide in a corner.
+
+
Reassuringvoices speaking indifferent languages can be
heard, but onlyfragments maketheir way to him: “hot meal”
and “hurry up”.
MANIN THECROWD (O.S.)
(in Hungarian)
You have toremember the number.
Saul goes to acorner in thecorridor andstands still. He is
soonjoined byother MEN IN WHITE SHIRTS. They don’t talk.
Next to him,naked people walkfurther down. Saul’s face is
blank as wecatch aglimpse at the hugecrowd passing him
by.Voices rise, questions, invarious languages, then fade
away.
The lastnaked people, agitated, arebeing pushed into the
other hall by men in uniform.
Thesound of aheavy door closing.
The men inuniform leave.
Saul and theother men inwhite shirts collect the clothes
hanging on theracks andthrow them on the ground. Cries
surround them.
A baldMAN comes near Saulstill taking theclothes out of
the racks. The bald manspeaks in a lowvoice to the man next
to Saul, astrong man in his thirties, LANDESMAN. The bald
manlooks at Saul.
BALD MAN:
(in Yiddish)
You too.
+
Saulleaves with Landesman. Theyenter asmaller corridor.
Thecries are louder.Landesman opens a door on the right.
They go inside.There await several other MEN IN WHITE SHIRT,
facesturned to the ground.
CUT TO:
2 INT.KREMATORIUM -GAS CHAMBER /PASSAGE /TUNNEL - DAY
A gaschamber withplaster walls.Artificial light comes down
from a low ceiling.
+
ShootingDraft April 25, 2014
4.
A low, longnoise of aheavy industrial fan,before stopping +
with reverberation.
Saul ishosing theground mechanically, slowly,directing the +
hose here and there, his face focused.
In the BACKGROUND,human FIGURES come and go rapidly. Some
drawnearer Saul, andstart pulling backward, and then OFF
SCREEN,heavy loads.
TWOMEN around Saul seem tostruggle withsomething below.
Saulturns off the hose andleans toward the ground. He helps
the men.
The mencarry awaytheir load.
Thefigures around Saul moveincreasingly fast, quietly, as
ifcommanded byinvisible fear and discipline. +
A lowwhimper can beheard from underneath.
Saultries to look for thesource of the whimper.
He freezes.
A light-haired mancomes near him. He is 30 butlooks 50, his
name is HIRSCH. Hewears the sameclothes as Saul. His deeply
set eyes look down withworry at thesource of the whimper.
Hirschwaves atsomeone OFF SCREEN.
Another prisoner, whoseems to have more authority, draws
closer. He is ashort butstrong young man in his late
twenties, and aforeman in the Kommando. He is called
FEIGENBAUM. Helooks towards thesource of thewhimper and +
hurries away. +
Rate this script:3.3 / 3 votes

László Nemes

László Nemes (born Nemes Jeles László; 18 February 1977) is a Hungarian film director and screenwriter. His 2015 debut feature film, Son of Saul, was screened in the main competition at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix. He is the first Hungarian director whose film has won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. His film, Son of Saul, is the second Hungarian film to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. more…

All László Nemes scripts |László Nemes Scripts

1 fan

Submitted byacronimous on March 14, 2016