Kapò

Before he left his mark on cinema forever with the revolutionary The Battle of Algiers, Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo directed this audacious World War II drama about a young Jewish woman (Susan Strasberg) in a Nazi concentration camp, who saves herself from death by assuming another’s identity and becoming a ruthless warden. The Oscar-nominated Kapò was one of the first films to depict the horror of the Holocaust, and it does so with brutality and daring emotional complexity.

Film Info

  • Italy
  • 1959
  • 112 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.66:1
  • Italian

Purchase Options

Kapò
Cast
Susan Strasberg
Edith, alias Nicole Niepas
Emmanuelle Riva
Terese
Laurent Terzieff
Sascha
Didi Perego
Sofia
Gianni Garko
Karl
Credits
Director
Gillo Pontecorvo
Producer
Franco Cristaldi
Producer
Moris Ergas
Story and screenplay by
Franco Solinas
Story and screenplay by
Gillo Pontecorvo
Cinematography
Alexandar Sukulovic
Cinematography
Goffredo Bellisario
Editing
Roberto Cinquini
Art direction
Piero Gherardi
Music
Carlo Rustichelli
Music
Gillo Pontecorvo

Current

Kapò: Into Darkness
Kapò: Into Darkness
Indefatigably political Italian filmmaker Gillo Pontecorvo, best known for 1966’s truly revolutionary The Battle of Algiers, once stated that “the ideal director should be three-quarters Rossellini and one-quarter Eisenstein.” Certainly, one…

By Michael Koresky