"Dentro de campo". The ethic-aesthetic representation of the Holocaust through the film Son of Saul.

Abstract

This paper addresses the audiovisual representation of one of the darkest chapters in the history of humanity: The Holocaust. Starting from Wittgenstein’s proposition that “ethics and aesthetics are one”, we developed a hermeneutic and semiotic analysis of the film Son of Saul (Saul fia, László Nemes, 2015) and dealt with various elements like its editing, image, focus, sound, and color. The goal of this study is to claim the importance of this film as a cultural object that gathers a series of aesthetic decisions that place it ethically in the world and in the cinematographic scene, compared to others that aestheticize, trivialize or monetize the Jewish extermination. Thus, we have reached three conclusions. First of all, that in this continuous wondering about the possibilities of cinema and the aesthetics limits of representation lies the ethical behavior of filmmakers. Second, that the audience shall have to accept the challenge of facing a cinema far beyond the institutional mode of representation (IMR) and become an active part in the exchange of information. Finally, that cinema as a vehicle for social change must serve to the strengthening of democracy and contribute to guarantee the no-repetition of a disaster such as the Holocaust.