The slaughter is at once blurry and succinct, flickering incessantly through the clanging inner-workings of a Nazi death camp, where Jewish slave workers known as Sonderkommandos lead fellow Jews to gas chambers, collecting their wallets, jewels and shoes in a cruel and final degradation.
“Son of Saul,” winner of this year’s Academy Award for foreign language film, is a collage of the unimaginable. In his feature debut, Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes revisits the Holocaust through the eyes of Saul Auslander (Geza Rohrig), a man given a brief reprieve from his own demise by carrying out the nightmarish vision of his captors at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
OSCARS 2016: Live updates | List of nominees | Show highlights
The camera inhabits Saul. We see what he experiences, much of it out of focus as if a man hurrying through and trapped in horror. Our minds fill in the obscurities, lending fresh understanding and unnerving perspective. The pace is relentless, with long camera takes and hand-held jitteriness. There is no escape from the clatter of feet, the burning of corpses and the quick breaths of ticking-down survival.
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The cast of Best Picture winner “Spotlight” takes a selfie backstage at the 88th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Director Tom McCarthy with the Oscar for best picture, “Spotlight.” (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Actress Stacey Dash speaks onstage during the 88th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on Feb. 28, 2016.
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Michael Keaton and the cast and producers of “Spotlight” celebrate after winning the Oscar for best picture.
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The production team and cast of Spotlight celebrate the award for best picture.
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Leonardo DiCaprio (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Brie Larson (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu, winner of Best Director with Tom Hardy
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Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Lady Gaga performs (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Lady Gaga and abuse survivors (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Vice President Joe Biden (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Director Laszlo Nemes (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Rock and Girl Scouts (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Dave Grohl during the In Memoriam segment (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Whoopi Goldberg
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Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Rock (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Louis C.K. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Rock (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Mark Rylance (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Mark Rylance thanks Steven Spielberg before accepting his Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
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Patricia Arquette (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Filmmakers Pato Escala Pierart and Gabriel Osorio Vargas (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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The Weeknd performs (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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The Weeknd performs (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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The Weeknd performs (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Jonas Rivera and Pete Docter (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Girl Scouts sell cookies with Chris Rock (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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David White, right, and Mark Mangini (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Marcos Taylor as Suge Knight
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Rachel McAdams and Michael B. Jordan (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Emmanuel Lubezki (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Priyanka Chopra, left, and Liev Schreiber (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Margaret Sixel (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Evans, right, and Chadwick Boseman (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Benecio del Toro and Jennifer Garner (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Elka Warden, Lesley Vanderwalt and Damian Martin (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Presenters Margot Robbie and Jared Leto (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Colin Gibson and Lisa Thompson (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Cate Blanchett (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Tina Fey and Steve Carell (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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CaJenny Beavan (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Alicia Vikander (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Adam McKay, front, and Charles Randolph with their Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Sam Smith (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Sarah Silverman (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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“The Big Short,” the anarchic, bracing broadside against Wall Street malfeasance, won the adapted screenplay Oscar at tonight’s 88th Academy Awards. The script was written by Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, who also directed. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Emily Blunt and Charlize Theron (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Chris Rock (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Each of the foreign films nominated this year is an intimate story told against larger cruelties. “Embrace of the Serpent” from Colombia explores the painful residue left from years of colonialism in the Amazon. “A War” from Denmark deals with the moral consequences of the Afghanistan war. France’s entry, “Mustang,” is the tale of girls trying to break the grip of traditionalism in a Turkish village, and “Theeb” from Jordan is an Arabic coming-of-age saga set against the crumbling Ottoman Empire.
“Son of Saul” traces the fate of a ghost-like everyman caught in a wicked time. It has the power of a documentary and the poetic barbarism of the best Holocaust films, including Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List.” “Son of Saul,” shot by cinematographer Matyas Erdely, is more visceral and claustrophobic than that film, plunging deeper into an all-consuming madness that extinguishes hope the instant it glimmers.
OSCARS 2016: Red carpet arrivals | Best and worst dressed
It is a reminder that humanity is ingrained with savagery whether it be in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Rwanda, South Sudan or the Nazis’ factories of death. Saul is enveloped by it, so much so that he convinces himself that a dead boy in the camp is his son. He searches for a rabbi to read prayers for burial. It gives him a frantic man’s purpose, but it is a quest that crushes the soul.
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Jennifer Lawrence
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“The Martian” actor Matt Damon
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Actress Priyanka Chopra
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Taylor Kinney, left, and Lady Gaga arrive at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
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“Titanic” costars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet reunite on the red carpet.
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Amy Poehler and Michael Keaton
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Charlize Theron
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The Weeknd and Common
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Oscar nominees Cate Blanchett (“Carol”) and Bryan Cranston (“Trumbo”).
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Oscar nominee Rachel McAdams (supporting actress, “Spotlight”).
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From left, actress Margot Robbie, best actor nominee Eddie Redmayne (“The Danish Girl”) and actress Jennifer Garner.
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People protest the all-white slate of acting Oscar nominees and lack of diversity in the industry near the 88th Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center.
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Taylor Kinney, left, and Lady Gaga
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“Director Ridley Scott and Giannina Facio, left, and supporting actor nominee Tom Hardy (“The Revenant”) with Charlotte Riley.
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Supporting actor nominee Tom Hardy (“The Revenant”) with actress Charlotte Riley.
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Best actress nominee Cate Blanchett (“Carol”).
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Nominees and former costars Kate Winslet (supporting actress, “Steve Jobs”) and Leonardo DiCaprio (best actor, “The Revenant”).
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Leonardo DiCaprio
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Actor Christian Bale with wife Sibi Blazic.
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Reese Witherspoon
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Model Heidi Klum
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Model Chrissy Teigen and husband John Legend
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Kerry Washington
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Supporting actress winner Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl”).
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Naomi Watts, Olivia Munn, Priyanka Chopra
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Cinematographer Ed Lachman, Spirit Award winner and Oscar nominee for “Carol.”
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Mindy Kaling
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Jordan’s foreign-language nominee “Theeb” is represented by, from left, director Naji Abu Nowar and actors Jacir Eid and Hassan Mutlag Al-Maraiyeh.
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Sofia Vergara, costar of ABC’s “Modern Family,” on the red carpet.
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Actor Byung-hun Lee.
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Governors Ball chef Wolfgang Puck.
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From left, model Heidi Klum, best actress nominee Saorise Ronan (“Brooklyn”) and last year’s supporting actress winner Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”).
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“Room’s” young actor Jacob Tremblay shares a stretch of red carpet with “Modern Family’s” Sofia Vergara.
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Original song nominees Jimmy Napes, left, and Sam Smith (“Writing’s on the Wall,” “Spectre”).
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Nominated film editor Hank Corwin (“The Big Short”) and wife Nancy arrive at the 88th Academy Awards.
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Actor Orlando Jones during the arrivals.
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Tobias Lindholm, center, director of Denmark’s foreign-language nominee “A War,” arrives with the film’s lead actor Pilou Asbæk, right.
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“Beasts of No Nation” actor Abraham Attah.
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Morning show host and former NFL player Michael Strahan addresses the media on the red carpet.
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“Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts.
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Composer Carter Burwell, nominated for original score for “Carol.”
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Model Dorith Mous on the red carpet.
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Members of the nominated live-action short feature “Shok” arrive on the red carpet for the 88th Academy Awards.
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Sofia Vergara at the 88th Academy Awards.
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“Beasts of No Nation” costar Abraham Attah arrives at the 88th Academy Awards.
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Orlando Jones arrives for the 88th Academy Awards.
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TV personality Stephanie Bauer on the Oscars red carpet.
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TV personality Giuliana Rancic at the 88th Academy Awards.
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TV personality Maria Menounos at the 88th Academy Awards.
( Ethan Miller/Getty Images, left, Jason Merritt/Getty Images, right) “This is the thing you forget about the Holocaust — the human face. It becomes mass. I wanted to focus on one man,” Nemes told The Times in January.
“Son of Saul” is “an unwavering vision of a particular kind of hell. No matter how many Holocaust films you’ve seen, you’ve not seen one like this,” Times critic Kenneth Turan wrote in his review. “It’s essential for us as a culture to continually see and understand that this was not an aberration, that people did this to other people and could do it again. Having films like ‘Son of Saul’ made and seen is our best hope of that not happening.”
Twitter: @JeffreyLAT
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