Kapò

I spend a lot of time at the library browsing through the movies.  This film from 1959 caught my eye.


 Mirror of Society.............................. 3/5
Moral............................................... 3/5
Plot and Script.................................. 5/5
Director........................................... 4/5
Casting and Characters...................... 5/5
Costume and Design.......................... 3/5
Cinematography.................................4/5
Good Use of Special Effects................3/5
Musical Score....................................5/5
Editing...............................................2/5

Total 37/50=74%

An Outstanding film

Mirror of Society
Kapò reflects on the issues of the Holocaust very well. It mirrors the actions people still take even today when they chose to stay alive. However, I feel it doesn't reflect society as a whole. 3/5

Moral
Obviously there has to be a moral in a film about the holocaust. It is prominent throughout the film with several little ones playing out. But the whole idea and setting of the story makes one feel terrible to be alive at times. 3/5

Plot and Script

The plot is easy to follow being similar to that of all holocaust stories.  The Script is very well written. One does not need to learn Italian or even read subtitles to deeply feel and comprehend what is happening.  This was an excellently scripted film.  5/5

Director
Gillo Pontecorvo has long been held to be one of Italy's greatest directors of his time.  Being that this was the first of his films that I have viewed, I cannot compare this with his other works to accurately point his style of storytelling.  But even so, this story was told in a heart-throbbing manner that I think could not be told in any other way than how he has done so in this film. 4/5

Casting and Characters
One can truly see and feel that the characters are sincere in their roles.  As I said in the plot section, you can understand the feeling and the situation perfectly without understanding the words. 5/5

Costume and Design
It's a concentration camp.  There is nothing interesting or even pleasing about it.  It does have some merit thou for making it appear real almost like in the old news reels.  3/5

Cinematography
I really like how they made the film appear like an old film reel.  However, that limited a lot of what he could have done to make a more interesting plot. 4/5

Good Use of Special Effects
I really thought the story was given a lot more credibility by making the end scene a copy of an old newsreel.  They then cut from the film to the newsreel and back several times.  It was quite a neat and interesting technique.  However, I feel that they could have done some other things similar to that in turn enhancing the story. 3/5

Musical Score
I don't know what it was, but it seemed to be a classical harpsichord composition that was used throughout. The drama that the score produces at times is amazing.  5/5

Editing
I don't know whether this was from the fact that the film was old or simply an editing fail.  There were times when the scene would would cut from subjective point of view to indirect and you could see like these film glitches.  It only occurred a few times but it really detracted from the moments. 2/5

Overall
I'm glad I pulled this off the shelf
Rotten tomatoes doesn't have a score but 84% of the audience liked it.
IMDb gives it a rating of 7.6