Kapò

This 1959 Italian-French co-production tells the story of Jewish 14-year-old Edith (Susan Strasberg) that is deported with her parents a Nazi concentration camp, where the latter are murdered. Sofia (Didi Perego), an older, political prisoner, and a kindly camp doctor save her from a similar fate by giving her a new, non-Jewish identity, that of the newly dead Nichole Niepas. As time goes by, she becomes more toughened to the brutal life and a fraternization with a guard, Karl (Gianni Garko), helps her become a kapo. She thrives while the idealistic Sofia grows steadily weaker. When she falls in love with Sascha (Laurent Terzieff), a Russian prisoner of war, Edith is persuaded to play a crucial role in a mass escape, turning off the power. Most are killed, but some get away. Edith is not one of them. Kapo was filmed in Yugoslavia. Nominated for the Academy Award as best foreign film.