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Kapò

Play trailer Poster for Kapò Released Jun 1, 1964 1h 56m Drama History Play Trailer Watchlist
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50% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 86% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
A prisoner (Susan Strasberg) in a concentration camp collaborates with her Nazi captors in order to survive.

Critics Reviews

View All (6) Critics Reviews
Bosley Crowther New York Times Kapo goes completely kaput. Rated: 1.5/5 May 6, 2006 Full Review Penelope Gilliatt Observer (UK) Rooted as it is in the truth, the film cannot be anything but pitiful, but the manufactured sentiment is that much more affronting. Mar 6, 2024 Full Review Daniel Barnes Dare Daniel At its best, the film offers the clear-eyed objectivity of a journalist, while still establishing a moral outrage. Rated: 4/5 Jan 31, 2020 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Curious Holocaust film. Rated: B- Oct 23, 2014 Full Review Sean Axmaker Stream on Demand ... the documentary detail of the physical recreation and the matter-of-fact evocation of life under such conditions gives it a power beyond the plot... Apr 15, 2010 Full Review Alan Dale Blogcritics.org Pontecorvo is not the visionary firebrand of The Battle of Algiers here. He cares about the subject passionately--as a Jew, and as a Communist leader in the Italian Resistance--but he turns it into pap. Apr 18, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (17) audience reviews
Audience Member A Holocaust film concerning a young Jewish girl who survives the gas chambers and becomes a kapò, a prisoner in charge of keeping the other prisoners in check. Since I saw the brilliant The Battle of Algiers, I was expecting a lot more from this film. The beginning of the film is filmed and directed very well and shows the trauma of these prisoners being separated front their loved ones. However, the film becomes ridiculous when Edith/Nicole befriends a German officer and then falls in love with a Russian war prisoner which is where the film becomes ridiculous and loses all realism for me. Edith/Nicole also has a cat which I felt was also pretty silly. There are some very powerful scenes in the film but these are few and far between in this over dramatic film. The score of the film did not match the emotional scenes in film whatsoever and took me out of the film. I just couldn't get past the point of the film introducing a romantic angle in a concentration camp film. I definitely don't think it deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, though I haven't seen the other nominees. Overall, a film with a strong beginning but fell into ridiculous movie cliches from then on. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review s r A well made film, but do we need to fictionalize the holocaust with cliche in order to get a point across? Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Technically sound and often shocking in its stark portrayal of a concentration camp but ultimately doesn't explore its apparent themes and instead wastes time on a boring love story. The climax and ending are great though. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Released before the decimating force of The Battle of Algiers, Kapò shows a more classical side of Gillo Pontecorvo in terms of form and structure but is in line with the director's controversial choice in subject matter. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Kapò was a privilege prisoner in the concentration camps that was assigned as a SS-guard for the rest of their fellow prisoner. The Kapò was very unpopular among the prisoners because of their brutality. In Gillo Pontecorvo's Kapò, we follow the young Jewish girl, Edith (Susan Strasberg) who has manage to escape from the Jewish camp and over to another camp for political prisoners, thanks to a doctor. They are not as badly treated as the Jews, but it's still very brutal, and when Edith are appointed Kapò, she becomes hated by her fellow prisoners, who supported her in the beginning. Kapò is a typical anti-war movie of its time. Although I would have expected Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Audience Member The grueling difficulty of survival in a Nazi concentration camp. A gritty drama of idealism and sacrifice. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Kapò

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A prisoner (Susan Strasberg) in a concentration camp collaborates with her Nazi captors in order to survive.
Director
Gillo Pontecorvo
Producer
Morris Ergas, Franco Cristaldi
Screenwriter
Gillo Pontecorvo, Franco Solinas
Distributor
Lionex Films Inc.
Production Co
Cineriz, Zebra Film, Vides Cinematografica
Genre
Drama, History
Original Language
Italian
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 1, 1964, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 12, 2018
Runtime
1h 56m