Passenger (1963)

While being aboard a transatlantic ship, German woman Liza notices someone who looks like Marta, the former inmate at Auschwitz, where Liza used to be the guard.

Directors:

Andrzej Munk, Witold Lesiewicz

Writers:

Andrzej Munk (screenplay), Zofia Posmysz (novel)

Stars:

Aleksandra Slaska, Anna Ciepielewska, Jan Kreczmar

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Aleksandra Slaska	...	Liza
Anna Ciepielewska	...	Marta
Jan Kreczmar	...	Walter
Marek Walczewski	...	Tadeusz
Irena Malkiewicz	...	Oberaufseherin Madel
Barbara Horawianka	...	Nurse
Maria Koscialkowska	...	Guard Inga Weniger
Anna Jaraczówna	...	Capo
Leon Pietraszkiewicz	...	Lagerkommandant Grabner
Janusz Bylczynski	...	Capo
Andrzej Krasicki	...	Commission Member
Zdzislaw Szymborski	...	SS-Man
Kazimierz Rudzki	...	Commission Member
Anna Golebiowska	...	Female Prisoner
Krzesislawa Dubielówna

Storyline

The last film of Andrzej Munk, who died in a crash during the filming. A German woman on a ship coming back to Europe notices a face of another woman which brings recollections from the past. She tells her husband that she has been an overseer in Auschwitz during the war, but she has actually saved a woman's life. Her vision is shown and then the actual events.

---

Plot Keywords:

still photograph | ship | auschwitz | inmate | guard | 

---

Genres:

Drama | War

---

Details

Country:

Poland

Language:

Polish

Release Date:

20 September 1963 (Poland)

Also Known As:

Passenger

Filming Locations:

Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Oswiecim, Malopolskie, Poland

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zespol Filmowy "Kamera"

Technical Specs

Runtime:

62 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Banned in Ireland in 1966; head censor Christopher Macken described it as a "horror film" and also objected to the scene where naked women are driven to the chambers.

It was passed on appeal with an uncut over-16's certificate.

---

Connections

Featured in Ostatnie zdjecia (2000)

---

Soundtracks

Violin Concerto in E Major
Written by Johann Sebastian Bach

User Reviews

A Posthumous Masterpiece

This is an incomplete deeply moving masterpiece. The scenes of Auschwitz are disturbing, of course, but more so set against a genuine human drama involving two women on opposite sides of this evil situation. We see how the best of human sensibility can be drawn out in the worst evil places. We witness mixed motives on the part of our overseer of prisoners. Why is she protective of this one concentration camp victim? We see her drawn to the beauty and the power of this simple woman victimized by this idiotic Nazi policy of confinement. She is also conflicted regarding this simple woman's love for her fiancee, a fellow prisoner.

This is a situation where you can genuinely regret the cruel fate that would deny us this completed film which is so powerful even in the truncated form completed by his colleagues after Munk's death. See this film if you can get a chance.