On Thursday, 19 November, Géza Röhrig, who plays the eponymous role of Saul Ausländer, addressed the genuinely touched Linhart Hall viewers after the screening of Son of Saul. Röhrig saw his character as a living dead or a robot; after assisting in 10,000 executions as a Sonderkommando, he was bereft of all compassion, the feeling returned only through the intervention of a child, which inspired hope in him again. This accounts for his zealous endeavour to give the child a proper Jewish burial, a wish that his fellow sufferers – as well as numerous viewers – find strange.

Röhrig went on to say that director Lászlo Nemes and he share the disappointment with most holocaust movies, which are either too sentimental (“I hope you didn’t cry. This was not what we aimed at.”) or focus on (mere) survival. Instead, the makers of Son of Saul sought to highlight that extra human dimension that chooses to suppress the self-preservation instinct in favour of nobler ends. Unveiling the sophisticated Nazi dehumanisation methods, the theme of Sonderkommandos is a gratifying one; although not starved to death or killed, the Jewish prisoners, forced to assist the Nazis in the machinery of large-scale extermination, were completely stripped of their dignity. In preparing for the role Röhrig studied the testimonies given by Sonderkommandos, who chose to speak about this experience. “I promised myself not to read about Sonderkommandos before going to bed, but I couldn’t help myself. I had nightmares but it was good for the part.”

Written by Andraž Jež

Photo Iztok Dimc

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