HOSPITAL OF TRANSFIGURATION [1978]
year:
- 1978
release date:
- 28 III 1979
runtime:
- 90 min
directed by:
- Edward Żebrowski
written by:
- Michał Komar, Edward Żebrowski based on the novel by Stanisław Lem
director of photography:
- Witold Sobociński
cast:
- Piotr Dejmek [Stefan], Jerzy Bińczycki [Andrzej Nowacki], Henryk Bista [Dr. Kauters], Ewa Dałkowska [Dr. Nosilewska], Gustaw Holoubek [Zygmunt Sekułowski], Zygmunt Hübner [Dr. Pajączkowski], Ryszard Kotys [orderly Józef], Klaus Piontek [SS-man Thiesdorf], Wojciech Pszoniak [Dr. Marglewski], Zbigniew Zapasiewicz [Dr. Rygier], Katarzyna Ejmont [a hospital patient], Adam Gessler [a hospital patient], Anna Jaraczówna [a hospital patient], Elżbieta Karkoszka [a hospital patient], Piotr Szulkin [Jakub, patient and composer]
edited by:
- Urszula Śliwińska
music by:
- Stanisław Radwan
production design:
- Tadeusz Wybult
produced by:
- Studio Filmowe „Tor”
executive producer:
- Tadeusz Drewno
awards:
-
• Festival of Polish Feature Films Gdańsk 1979: Grand Jury Award for best sound for Małgorzata Jaworska
• Don Quixote 1979
• IFF Locarno (Switzerland) 1979: honorary mention
• IFF Brussels (Belgium) 1981: Crystal Star for best performance for Piotr Dejmek
• Red Cross and Health IFF Varna (Bulgaria) 1981: Special Jury Award
About the film
A cold morality tale in which good and evil are clearly contrasted. An apocalyptic vision of the destruction of the hospital becomes a great parable of human fate in a time of bigotry and genocide.
Autumn 1939, the beginning of the German occupation of Poland. Stefan, a young doctor, arrives in a hospital for the mentally ill and takes up his first job. He meets his colleagues. Dr. Kauters is a supporter of surgical methods to treat mental illness. Rygier is a fanatic of strong leadership, and Dr. Marglewski considers mental illness to be a kind of possession. The hospital is isolated from the reality of occupation. The world of doctors and patients is ruled by specific laws.
Stefan is a witness to an orderly bullying a patient − a musician named Jakub. Dr. Kauters delays an operation of a suffering patient just to collect new scientific data. Stefan is shocked, he grows more and more frustrated. The hospital is permeated by an atmosphere of danger. Shortly after, the Germans show up. The underground sends information that the hospital is to be liquidated. Patients are to be murdered. Doctors are trying to hide some patients. German trucks arrive. Sekułowski breaks down and commits suicide. Dr. Kauters introduces himself as a German and watches the tragedy of the hospital with indifference. Dr. Nosilewska admits to being of Jewish origin; Rygier declares Polish identity. Patients are taken to the forest and shot. Stefan flees into the woods, carrying on his back a boy whose life he wants to save, but the child is already dead. German soldiers approach
Waldemar Piątek, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996
