Kapo (1960)

 Gillo Pontecorvo's "Kapo"

I think Gillo Pontecorvo's 1960 film "Kapo" is one of the very first films to really demonstrate the horrific specificities of the Holocaust and concentration camps in implicit detail. Obviously, films on the Holocaust were aplenty from 1945 to 1960. However, there is a level of detail and intimacy that is brought forth in "Kapo" that illustrates the true horror of what some of the civilian prisoners had to endure. 

The film centers on a 14-year-old French Jew who is separated from her parents and taken to a concentration camp. There, beyond the unimaginable cruelty she endures (along with having to witness it), she does everything possible to survive. Adopting the alias Nicole, she sells her body to Nazi soldiers and, after years, becomes a Kapo - someone who is put in charge of the prisoners. She hardens and thereby alienates herself from the other women. One day, she is tasked with choosing between risking herself to save everyone or securing her own skin.

What surprised me most after watching the film was the unfavorable reception it received. Not only did the film receive a great deal of controversy for its unflinching depiction of horrific imagery, but it was regarded as being "jam-packed with every tear-jerking cliché." I felt shock upon reading this, as I felt that "Kapo" had avoided a lot of clichés that typically is found within Holocaust dramas. For example, Vittorio De Sica's "Two Women" was released in the same year and received numerous awards and critical attention. Yet, to me, THAT film felt too melodramatic to accurately display the insanity of its subject matter.

To me, "Kapo," although sufficient in its story, is an incredibly unique and bizarre film. Not bizarre in the sense of plot-centered circumstance or visual execution. What's bizarre about the film to me is its complex moral ambiguity in something so universally black-and-white. Motion picture depictions of prisoners in a concentration camp don't typically raise ambiguous moral conundrums as "Kapo" does. 

For one thing, our main heroine certainly isn't the most polished emblem of moral superiority. It would be universally excepted and expected for our heroine to be the blistering victim of her scenario. However, her willingness to adapt and survive creates cessions of moral complicity. Her becoming "kapo" in itself is a moral failing on her part. However, it never crossed my mind that this was ever a moral failing. Things are not so black-and-white. The instinct to survive trumps all. 

To me, that's why "Kapo" succeeds in the realms that other films typically fail. Of course, the film is full of horrific occurrences that demand our empathy for its participants. But, it doesn't scrape away any moral security. It embraces the complexity of adaption that dire circumstances call for. If anything, this vacillation of power dynamics and complicity make Nicole's final decision even more morally adamant. 

"Kapo" is certainly not a perfect film by any means and some of its plot points and tonal shifts create certain imbalances in its execution. But, it's a whirlwind of a film that engages the viewer from beginning to end. I certainly didn't know what to expect when I sat down to watch it, but I'm very glad I did.