The Hospital of Transfiguration

^director Edward Żebrowski
^screenplay (based on the novel of the same title by Stanisław Lem) by Michał Komar, Edward Żebrowski
^{director of photography} Witold Sobociński
^music Stanisław Radwan
^with Piotr Dejmek, Jerzy Bińczycki, Henryk Bista, Ewa Dałkowska, Gustaw Holoubek, Zygmunt Hübner, Ryszard Kotys, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz, Wojciech Pszoniak, Piotr Szulkin
^awards
 Special Commendation at Locarno International Film Festival, 1979
 Crystal Star for Jerzy Dejmek at the Brussels International Film Festival, 1981
 Jury Special Prize at the Red Cross International Film Festival in Varna, 1981
 Main Award, Silver Lions, (together with ‘Zmory’ and ‘Róg Brzeskiej’ and ‘Capri’) and ‘Best Sound’ for Małgorzata Jaworska at the 6th Polish Film Festival in Gdańsk, 1979
 prize awarded by the Polish Association of Film Critics Club, the Don Quixote, 1979

STANISŁAW LEM, THE HOSPITAL OF THE TRANSFIGURATION [SZPITAL PRZEMIENIENIA], TRANSLATION BY WILLIAM BRAND

The cherry-colored robes moved so evenly that an unseen force might have been combing them out of the gold-tinged gardens. Last of all came an orderly smoking a cigarette. As Stefan walked past a bare lilac bush, he saw someone crouching behind it. He wanted to call the orderly, but stopped himself. The patient, bent low, was clumsily stroking the silvery grass with a stiff hand.

KRZYSZTOF KREUTZINGER, BEHIND GOD’S BACK [ZA PLECAMI PANA BOGA], ‘FILM’, 1979, NO. 3

Stanisław Lem set his ‘Hospital of the Transfiguration’ in 1940, to which Żebrowski remained faithful. Poland is under German occupation. The end of the madhouse is near and it will be tragic. Although it comes from outside, the extermination is a consequence of relations inside the institution. The opposition between the degeneration inside the hospital and a cruel force approaching from outside feels insignificant. (…) In his ‘Ship of Fools’ Hieronymus Bosch left it mystical to forces to do the destruction. Żebrowski seems to be navigating in that direction, too. And he dresses the Apocalypse in an SS uniform.