Passenger (Pasażerka)

PASSENGER

Scenario

Cast:

Director of Photography

Director

Andrzej Munk was unable to complete his film.

He died in a car accident on 20th September, 1961.

We have no intention of adding what he had no time to say himself.

We are not searching for solutions which might not have been his...

nor seeking to conclude the plots which his death left unresolved.

We merely wish to present what was filmed...

with all the gaps and reticence...

in an attempt to grasp whatever is alive and significant.

Andrzej Munk was our contemporary.

We shared his hopes and fears, and while not anticipating the answers...

we may perhaps manage to present questions that he wished to pose.

The story begins today...

in a place where yesterday and tomorrow scarcely exist, only the present.

This luxury liner is an island in time...

and each of her passengers is an island, too.

Worries and ambitions fade away during a voyage.

A passenger isn't part of a society...

a nation or a group - free, without a biography.

The world turns a smiling face to passengers...

friendly, ready to serve...

not too curious about where they come from, or why they are travelling.

But we will not observe this idyll with such cheerful indifference.

We shall give our attention to this passenger.

She is a German...

who hasn't seen her country, or Europe at all, for years.

Now she is returning with her husband...

whom she married in a foreign, hospitable continent.

England... the first port of call in Europe.

What has Liza seen?

Her husband does not understand...

why this encounter has upset her.

Don't call me 'poor little thing'.

You know nothing about it.

My time in the camp...

was not what you think, my dear Walter.

I wasn't a prisoner, I was an overseer.

Don't look at me like that. I didn't hurt anyone.

And if Marta is alive...

it's only because of me.

I haven't told you much about my past. You were an emigrant.

You'll never understand how we had to live and obey our leaders.

Perhaps it's best for us both...

if you hear it at last.

I was sent to Auschwitz in the summer of 1943.

I took charge of a command working in a storehouse outside the camp.

I had nothing to do with the prisoners, only their things.

Everything belonged to the Reich...

and I was responsible for seeing that nothing was destroyed or stolen.

There was a war on and we all lived as soldiers.

Some were drunk with power, but I just did my duty.

I always tried to help those women whenever I could.

I had to select an assistant from a new transport.

Work in my command was easier than elsewhere...

and the treatment was more humane.

I saw something vulnerable and childlike in Marta.

I was sorry for her.

She became my clerk.

It was a pleasure...

to watch her change back to a normal girl, a girl from freedom.

I hoped that one day she would be really free...

and I did all I could to help her survive.

Then I discovered that her fiancée Tadeusz, was in the camp...

and as we needed help with book-keeping, I brought them together.

Thanks to me they met again.

One day she fell ill and was taken to hospital.

Conditions were not good there, we lacked medicines.

We couldn't cope.

Anyway, our soldiers at the front were worse off.

I decided to have Marta back in the block.

I could care for her better there...

make sure the doctor visited her.

I got sulphonamide and vitamins from the SS dispensary.

I saved her life.

I didn't ask for thanks, but at least I deserved her trust.

She didn't want to show it.

When she recovered she was more withdrawn than ever.

Whatever it was, it was something I couldn't understand.

Attention.

When I realised what it was all about, it was too late.

She went to him of her own accord.

She must have expected this visit.

I had no idea what her offence was, but I knew...

when Untersturmführer Grabner came in person to claim his victim...

nothing on earth could save her.

Marta was taken to the death block. I wanted to see her once more.

Before leaving for the Reich, I said I would like to see the death block.

It was awful.

Then I saw Marta.

I, an SS Overseer, was as powerless as she was.

Until now I was sure Marta had shared the fate of Tadeusz.

Perhaps Walter will be touched and repeat 'poor little thing'.

But the response of the husband learning of his wife's past...

that's not really important, the director probably used him...

so Liza could recount her first, noble version of herself and Marta.

The second version, she will keep to herself.

There is a gap in the film...

to be filled with various events taking place on the liner.

Munk began to film these events...

but never completed them.

The motivations of the Auschwitz revelations would have been detailed.

We are left with fragments - happy passengers...

Liza, staring at Marta...

trying to be sure it is really her.

Under such tension Liza recalls the truth well enough.

I was sorry for her. How naive I was.

She didn't give a damn for my kindness.

I, a German, denied myself everything...

I had no private life, no love, no rest from duty.

She, a Pole, committed for a political offence, had what I lacked.

She didn't need me to be happy.

It wasn't my doing and it wasn't by accident that Tadeusz was there.

Prisoners exploited our trust. Those given tasks ran the camp...

pulling wool over our eyes.

Even some German foremen were in with the gang.

He's not here.

- What do you mean? - The Capo sent him to hospital.

- Who's this? - He can take his place.

- Another one of your tricks? - No, the other may have typhus.

Typhus?

Decent Germans are at the front, not hiding in a camp.

You stinking coward.

In 1936 I fought in Spain. I didn't get this uniform for cowardice.

- Do you know the job? - Yes, I do.

I let it go on.

In the battle we fought...

I knew that cunning was more effective than brutality.

They played at love, thinking no one knew. They had no right to.

But I knew, and if you know what someone really cares for...

and you can give it or take it away...

you are the master.

I keep getting reports of theft.

Confiscated items are Reich property. Prisoners are stealing, trading...

Yesterday a woman prisoner was caught lifting boots from the store.

Today we found some buried gold.

Ober, a simple soul, an idealist, was bewildered by such things.

Yet in the end she said something sensible...

'We must win the confidence of chosen prisoners and establish order.

'Only the best in the garrison and the best of the prisoners...

'...can restore this camp's proper character'.

This idea was not new to me.

Overseer Weniger wishes to take command.

Unfortunately, I had moments of weakness, too...

and Marta was able to take note.

Even dogs have temptations they can't resist.

Major, Inga's pet, was extremely fond of cheese.

He wasn't to know he would soon pay for that.

A brat.

Impossible. I'll have a look.

Do you trust her?

I'd better check.

What a lovely brat it is.

Another stupid joke by the Special Command.

I was humiliated. Because of my weakness...

Marta involved me in a dirty business...

an accomplice in an effort to save a Jewish child.

Then the fight for Marta, against Marta, began to excite me.

It's my birthday today.

No one here remembered my birthday...

no one gave me such flowers.

The roses came from the SS greenhouse.

Prisoners from the men's camp worked there.

I decided to begin the attack...

let Marta know that I could give her Tadeusz...

like a sweet for being a good girl

Thank you, Madam Overseer, but it's impossible.

Anyway, I'm not all that keen to see her.

Still here? They're waiting. Hurry up.

He's got urgent work at the Commandant's villa.

You know, Madam, we've got artists here from all over Europe.