Hospital of the Transfiguration (1979)

Original title

Szpital Przemienienia

Directed by

Edward Żebrowski

Genre

drama film

Country

Poland

Runtime

1h 30m

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 17 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young psychiatrist at a psychiatric hospital in Poland confronts unethical experiments on patients during the early days of World War II. He tries to resist the hospital staff before the Nazis arrive.

darksombertensethought-provokingbleakdisturbingslow-burnphilosophical

What happens

Hospital of the Transfiguration is a Polish psychological war film from 1979 directed by Edward Żebrowski, based on Stanisław Lem's 1955 novel of the same title. The film's theme revolves around the extermination of patients in a psychiatric hospital shortly after the outbreak of World War II (Aktion T4). The story focuses on the character of Dr. Stefan (played by Piotr Dejmek), who dares to protest against unethical experiments conducted on patients by the hospital staff even before the arrival of the Germans. The film was mostly well received by critics and won multiple awards, including at the Polish Film Festival and the Locarno Film Festival. It was praised for its aesthetic quality and insightful analysis of the reasons for acquiescence to totalitarianism, while its weakness was seen in deviating from wartime realities in favor of an idiosyncratic stylization. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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