Passenger (Pasażerka) is a 1963 Polish film directed by Andrzej Munk. Munk died during production, leaving the film unfinished. Photo stills and voice-over narration were used in an attempt to connect the existing footage together in order for the film to be released.
The POV character is Liza, a German woman coming back to Europe on a ship, having not stepped foot in her homeland for years. She spots another passenger who she believes might be Marta, an Auschwitz survivor, and relates to her husband that she used to be an overseer in the concentration camp and had saved Marta's life. Her memories, however, tell a somewhat different story.
Tropes:
- Foe Romance Subtext: SS overseer Liza really sounds like she held some serious lustful feelings for the Polish prisoner Marta at times, even musing that she would like to take Marta with her if she ever got promoted out of Auschwitz."The fight for Marta, against Marta, began to excite me."
"I was close to mastering Marta."
"But for that dog, Marta would have been mine." - Photo Montage: The scenes in the ship were never properly shot and thus were inserted into the film as photo stills.
- POW Camp: An SS overseer and a Polish prisoner have an odd relationship in the Auschwitz concentration camp. This was one of the few films to actually be filmed there.
- Unreliable Narrator: Liza claims that she protected Marta and saved her life and that of her husband Tadeusz, but these claims are very likely motivated by wanting to downplay her responsibility as an SS officer. The flashbacks show that Liza seemed more fixated on dominating Marta than anything else.
