The film’s protagonists are highly individualized but at the same time truly ambiguous. The cruelty of men has its origin in war or love traumas, while a harsh temperament is a type of armour that shields them from the outside world. Beneath a big facade of cynicism one can find deep human feelings. It is well visible in a scene where three protagonists carry the body of a tragically dead friend. As an organist is not there, the deceased is escorted with the ‘Bal na Gnojnej’ (Party At the Dung Lane) melody played by the drunken Orsaczek. All the men are finally joined by the chains of friendship based on solidarity in pain. The most cruel person of The Depot of the Dead is a woman. Wanda (Teresa Iżewska) is Zabawa’s wife and a real femme fatale who constantly considers bolting off into the wild with a man.
Despite the fact that the figures in Petelski’s film are complex, the director does not leave any doubts about who is doing right. Zabawa is obviously an exemplar – a faithful communist who does not surrender to his moods and manages to fulfil the duty of citizenship duty winning a victory at the end. The propagandistic envoy of the film prompted Hłasko to demand a withdrawal of his name from the film’s credits and a change of the title.
We are justified to criticize Petelski for the tendentious revision of the novel, but one cannot miss his talent as a filmmaker: The Depot of the Dead is a remarkably realised film. The part that shows a dangerous passage of lorries over the winding mountain roads are full of tension and may connote with the famous The Wages of Fear by Henri-Georges Clouzot. Equally thrilling are cameral scenes in a cabin – Kurt Weber’s cinematography creates a suggestive, claustrophobic and dense ambiance. We should also count the great acting and lively, humorous dialogue. Petelski achieved a seemingly impossible thing: he showed that a socrealistic film can be as absorbing as the greatest film noir works.
The Depot of the Dead, Poland 1958. Dir.: Czesław Petelski. Script: Marek Hłasko (uncredited). Cinematography: Kurt Weber. Music: Adam Walaciński. Scenography: Wojciech Krzysztofiak. Cast: Zygmunt Kęstowicz (Stefan Zabawa), Emil Karewicz (‘Warszawiak’), Teresa Iżewska (Wanda), Leon Niemczyk (‘Dziewiątka’), Aleksander Fogiel (‘Apostoł’), Tadeusz Łomnicki (‘Partyzant’), Roman Kłosowski (‘Orsaczek’), and others.
Production: Zespół Filmowy Studio. Black and white. 104 min.
Author: Robert Birkholc, translated by Antoni Wiśniewski, February 2016