''Passenger'' ( pl, Pasażerka) is a 1963 Polish

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

directed by Andrzej Munk. When Munk died in a car crash during production, the unfinished film was assembled for release by directors

Witold Lesiewicz Witold Lesiewicz (9 September 1922 – 23 March 2012) was a Polish film director and screenwriter. He directed 24 films between 1949 and 1979. He completed the work on the 1963 film '' Passenger'' after the death of director Andrzej Munk. ...

and Andrzej Brzozowski. ''Passenger'', using the form of a documentary, dramatizes the memories of a fictional SS officer (played by

Aleksandra Śląska Aleksandra Śląska (4 November 1925 – 18 September 1989) was a Polish film actress. She appeared in 18 films between 1948 and 1983. Born in Katowice, Upper Silesia, she left for Warsaw after World War II. She was buried in the Powązki ...

) who had served at the Auschwitz concentration camp during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. ''The Passenger'' examines the nature of oppressor and victim within the microcosm of a German extermination camp during the Jewish Holocaust

Plot

''The Passenger'' begins in 1960, fifteen years after the end of

. The setting is a transatlantic voyage aboard a luxury liner en route from South America to Europe. Lisa Kretschmer (Alexandra Śląska), a former concentration camp SS officer, has a chance encounter with a fellow passenger who was one of her inmates at the camp, Marta (Anna Ciepielewska). Aboard the vessel, the roles of Liza and Marta are more of less reversed. Marta is in a position to expose the former Nazi as a war criminal, and if not to the authorities, at least to Liza’s husband, who is ignorant of her past. The meeting unleashes a cascade of memories for Liza, in which she struggles to revisit the events at the extermination center, and the nature of her behavior towards Marta. In a series of flashbacks, Liza’s internal narrative, which serves to rationalize her role, clashes with memories of the systematic murder of men, woman and children that characterized the Holocaust. The complexities of the relationship between perpetrator and victim reveals the degradation of Marta, who survived by accommodating herself to her oppressors.

Production history

Munk, at the age of 39, died in a car accident while the film was in production and the completed scenes were combined from parts of original footage and screenplay sketches by

. The methods used are explained in a voice-over during the course of the film, so its unfinished state itself takes a documentary form. Parts of the film were shot at Auschwitz. The source for ''The Passenger'' was a radio drama titled ''Passenger from Cabin Number 45'', written by Zofia Posmysz-Piasecka in 1959.Niemitz, 2014: "Inspired by a radio drama, ''The Passenger from Cabin Number 45'', by Zofia Posmysz-Piasecka, an Auschwitz survivor..." Posmysz's play was later reworked into a novel. It was published in 1962 as '' Pasażerka''. When the work was made into an opera in 1968, American audiences were first alerted to Munk's impressive cinematic ''oeuvre''.

Cast

- Lisa Kretschmer, former SS '' Aufseherin'' at Auschwitz . * Anna Ciepielewska - Marta, the Polish inmate *

Janusz Bylczynski Janusz () is a masculine Polish given name. It is also the shortened form of January and Januarius. People *Janusz Akermann (born 1957), Polish painter * Janusz Bardach, Polish gulag survivor and physician * Janusz Bielański, Roman Catholic pri ...

- Capo * Krystyna Dubielowna * Anna Golebiowska - Auschwitz Prisoner * Barbara Horawianka - Nurse * Anna Jaraczówna - Capo * Maria Koscialkowska - Guard, Inga Weniger * Andrzej Krasicki - Commission Member * Jan Kreczmar - Walter Kretschmer, Lisa's husband * Irena Malkiewicz - '' Oberaufseherin'' Madel * Izabella Olszewska *

Leon Pietraszkiewicz Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

- ''Lagerkommandant'' Grabner *

Kazimierz Rudzki Kazimierz Rudzki (6 January 1911, in Warsaw, Poland – 2 February 1976, in Warsaw) was a Polish stage and film actor, theatre director. Studied directing at Państwowy Instytut Sztuki Teatralnej. Actor of Syrena Theatre (also director), Nat ...

- Commission Member *

Wanda Swaryczewska Wanda is a female given name of Polish origin. It probably derives from the tribal name of the Wends.Campbell, Mike"Meaning, Origin, and History of the Name Wanda."''Behind the Name.'' Accessed on August 12, 2010. The name has long been popular ...

Awards

The film ''Passenger'' was entered into the

1964 Cannes Film Festival The 17th Cannes Film Festival was held from 29 April to 14 May 1964. On this occasion, the Palme d’Or was renamed "Grand Prix du Festival International du Film", a name that remained in use through 1974, after which it became the Palme d'Or ag ...

where it won a

FIPRESCI Award The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

. The film was also selected as the Polish entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

37th Academy Awards The 37th Academy Awards honored film achievements of 1964. For the first time, an award was presented in the field of makeup. The Best Picture winner of 1964, director George Cukor's ''My Fair Lady'', was about the transformative training o ...

.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Footnotes

Sources

*Niemitz, Dorota. 2014. ''The legacy of postwar Polish filmmaker Andrzej Munk.'' World Socialist Web Site. 13 October, 2014. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/10/13/munk-o13.html Retrieved 08 July, 2022.

External links

* {{Andrzej Munk 1963 films Polish black-and-white films Films directed by Andrzej Munk Films directed by Witold Lesiewicz Holocaust films 1960s Polish-language films Polish films based on plays Polish historical drama films 1960s historical drama films 1963 drama films