Although it's a very worthwhile film, there are some things about Kapo however that diminish its overall stature in the pantheon of Holocaust related art. For one thing, the story about a teenage Jewish girl who is sent to an extermination camp with her parents, is supposed to be initially set in Paris. But everyone is speaking Italian as it was produced by an Italian production company.
Then there's the problem of the bombastic soundtrack. The weird American sounding score lacks even a modicum of subtlety and tends to underline some of the more unfortunate melodramatic moments in the script.
Nonetheless Kapo remains a valuable lesson about the Holocaust. The cinematography is quite realistic and it has a "you are there" quality. The story's protagonist is Edith (a highly effective Susan Strasberg), the 14 year old Jewish teenager who is shipped off to Auschwitz with her parents. Edith is saved by a kindly doctor in the camp who provides her with the identity of a dead prisoner with a criminal past.
In a harrowing scene, Edith, now ensconced in a barracks of non-Jewish prisoners not marked for execution, witnesses her parents stripped naked, along with a large group of other naked men and women, all being marched into the gas chamber.
While the deaths of those marked for immediate execution at places like Auschwitz was relatively quick, the sadistic machinations of the Nazis were on full display in these labor camps where inmates were forced to perform back-breaking work until some dropped dead along with receiving extremely meager rations and enduring constant beatings from sadistic prisoner guards (the notorious "kapos," culled from the ranks of the inmate population).
It is to one of these labor camps in Poland where Edith is sent with other women who mainly are political prisoners or those with a criminal past. We see how Edith, the frail and emotionally damaged teenager who witnessed her parents being led to their death, is gradually transformed into the hardened prison guard-a collaborator who has earned the contempt of her fellow inmates.
The moment I believe where Edith "sells her soul to the devil" and ultimately is afforded the opportunity to become a Kapo, is when she agrees to perform sexual favors for the SS prison guards. She bonds with one in particular, Karl (Gianni Garko), who notably is the only fleshed out German character here. But even he can hardly be viewed sympathetically with his deluded belief in a favorable destiny for Nazi Germany.
In contrast to Edith (now known as Nicole, the name of the dead Auschwitz inmate she assumed), there is fellow inmate Thérèse (Emmanuelle Riva), a French partisan and German translator in the camp, who initially begs Edith to remain optimistic in the face of the many deprivations the prisoners suffer from. But gradually Thérèse is worn down and after refusing to translate for the camp commandant during the execution of a prisoner accused of sabotage, she is shipped off to solitary confinement and later has her rations cut. Eventually she commits suicide by hurling herself into the electrified fence surrounding the camp.
Director Gillo Pontecorvo does well in chronicling the dreaded "selection process" in the camp-in which infirm inmates (as well as others who are healthy) are selected (often arbitrarily) merely upon the whim of the camp doctor and sent to locations unknown (presumably marked for execution).
Pontecorvo also correctly notes the mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war who are seen brought to the camp where they are basically tortured--forced to move large rocks everyday in an effort to "fortify" positions for defensive purposes (the sound of distant artillery fire signals the approach of the Red Army as the Germans make preparations to flee). Part of those preparations involve orders for all the camp inmates to dig trenches inside the main prison yard of the camp with plans to execute everyone there as soon as the digging is completed.
The last third of the film covers Nicole's burgeoning romance with the Russian prisoner Sascha (Laurent Terzeff). It's because of her that Sascha is forced to stand shirtless in the cold at attention next to the electrified fence. But nonetheless there's something between them and eventually Nicole agrees to help Sascha and his fellow inmates escape by cutting the power to the fence knowing full well she will be executed for doing so.
The climax finds Nicole shot and dying in Karl's arms, exclaiming, "Karl, they screwed us all." However by aiding the inmates, Nicole redeems herself for her decision to become a collaborator leading to her mistreatment of her fellow inmates. Acknowledging her Jewishness, right before dying, she recites the most important Jewish prayer of all, Shema Yisrael.
Despite its imperfections, Kapo manages to provide a stark realistic portrait of Nazi perfidy and the horrific effects upon its victims.
Then there's the problem of the bombastic soundtrack. The weird American sounding score lacks even a modicum of subtlety and tends to underline some of the more unfortunate melodramatic moments in the script.
Nonetheless Kapo remains a valuable lesson about the Holocaust. The cinematography is quite realistic and it has a "you are there" quality. The story's protagonist is Edith (a highly effective Susan Strasberg), the 14 year old Jewish teenager who is shipped off to Auschwitz with her parents. Edith is saved by a kindly doctor in the camp who provides her with the identity of a dead prisoner with a criminal past.
In a harrowing scene, Edith, now ensconced in a barracks of non-Jewish prisoners not marked for execution, witnesses her parents stripped naked, along with a large group of other naked men and women, all being marched into the gas chamber.
While the deaths of those marked for immediate execution at places like Auschwitz was relatively quick, the sadistic machinations of the Nazis were on full display in these labor camps where inmates were forced to perform back-breaking work until some dropped dead along with receiving extremely meager rations and enduring constant beatings from sadistic prisoner guards (the notorious "kapos," culled from the ranks of the inmate population).
It is to one of these labor camps in Poland where Edith is sent with other women who mainly are political prisoners or those with a criminal past. We see how Edith, the frail and emotionally damaged teenager who witnessed her parents being led to their death, is gradually transformed into the hardened prison guard-a collaborator who has earned the contempt of her fellow inmates.
The moment I believe where Edith "sells her soul to the devil" and ultimately is afforded the opportunity to become a Kapo, is when she agrees to perform sexual favors for the SS prison guards. She bonds with one in particular, Karl (Gianni Garko), who notably is the only fleshed out German character here. But even he can hardly be viewed sympathetically with his deluded belief in a favorable destiny for Nazi Germany.
In contrast to Edith (now known as Nicole, the name of the dead Auschwitz inmate she assumed), there is fellow inmate Thérèse (Emmanuelle Riva), a French partisan and German translator in the camp, who initially begs Edith to remain optimistic in the face of the many deprivations the prisoners suffer from. But gradually Thérèse is worn down and after refusing to translate for the camp commandant during the execution of a prisoner accused of sabotage, she is shipped off to solitary confinement and later has her rations cut. Eventually she commits suicide by hurling herself into the electrified fence surrounding the camp.
Director Gillo Pontecorvo does well in chronicling the dreaded "selection process" in the camp-in which infirm inmates (as well as others who are healthy) are selected (often arbitrarily) merely upon the whim of the camp doctor and sent to locations unknown (presumably marked for execution).
Pontecorvo also correctly notes the mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war who are seen brought to the camp where they are basically tortured--forced to move large rocks everyday in an effort to "fortify" positions for defensive purposes (the sound of distant artillery fire signals the approach of the Red Army as the Germans make preparations to flee). Part of those preparations involve orders for all the camp inmates to dig trenches inside the main prison yard of the camp with plans to execute everyone there as soon as the digging is completed.
The last third of the film covers Nicole's burgeoning romance with the Russian prisoner Sascha (Laurent Terzeff). It's because of her that Sascha is forced to stand shirtless in the cold at attention next to the electrified fence. But nonetheless there's something between them and eventually Nicole agrees to help Sascha and his fellow inmates escape by cutting the power to the fence knowing full well she will be executed for doing so.
The climax finds Nicole shot and dying in Karl's arms, exclaiming, "Karl, they screwed us all." However by aiding the inmates, Nicole redeems herself for her decision to become a collaborator leading to her mistreatment of her fellow inmates. Acknowledging her Jewishness, right before dying, she recites the most important Jewish prayer of all, Shema Yisrael.
Despite its imperfections, Kapo manages to provide a stark realistic portrait of Nazi perfidy and the horrific effects upon its victims.