Determined to survive at any price, Edith, a young Jewish woman deported to an extermination camp, manages to survive by accepting the role of kapo, a privileged prisoner whose mission is to ruthlessly guard other prisoners.
Direction
Pontecorvo's neo-realist brutality before The Battle of Algiers.
Acting
Strasberg's hollow-eyed transformation from victim to perpetrator.
Director
Gillo Pontecorvo
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
One of the first films to confront Holocaust complicity directly, predating the 'gray zone' discourse Primo Levi would later articulate.
Pontecorvo shot in Yugoslavia using actual camp survivors as extras; their presence reportedly silenced the crew between takes.
IT
