THE DEPOT OF THE DEAD [1958]
year:
- 1958
release date:
- 10 VIII 1959
runtime:
- 104 min
directed by:
- Czesław Petelski
written by:
- Marek Hłasko (he withdrew his name from the credits)
director of photography:
- Kurt Weber
cast:
- Zygmunt Kęstowicz [Stefan Zabawa], Emil Karewicz [Tadek Warszawiak], Teresa Iżewska [Wanda], Leon Niemczyk [Nine], Aleksander Fogiel [Apostle], Tadeusz Łomnicki [Partisan], Roman Kłosowski [Orsaczek], Adam Kwiatkowski [Face], Juliusz Grabowski [Marcinkowski], Roman Hubczenko [Forrester]
edited by:
- Felicja Rogowska
music by:
- Adam Walaciński
production design:
- Wojciech Krysztofiak
produced by:
- Zespół Filmowy „Studio”
executive producer:
- Stanisław Zylewicz
Scenopis:
- Czesław Petelski
About the film
One of the most famous Polish films of the 1950s. A successful combination of a ‘production movie’ (transporting timber quota is the most important), disbelief in the possibility of changing the human condition and criticism of a system that rejects those who do not want to live ‘to the sound of trumpets and drums’. Hłasko did not wish the end to be optimistic, but Petelski preferred to offer some hope, albeit a bitter hope. Due to alterations made by the script writer, Marek Hłasko withdrew his name from the credits.
A timber transport base in Bieszczady is the destination for a group of outcasts and ex-convicts. The lack of civilization and any facilities means that none of them wants to stay here. The main character is Zabawa, an activist and mechanic, who comes to the base with his wife Wanda. The newcomers try to adapt to the existing conditions, but it is not easy. People begin to die, because the equipment they use to work is too old. The light at the end of the tunnel which everyone is waiting for is the arrival of new trucks.
Grzegorz Pieńkowski, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996
