The Passenger

Each day, an 11-year-old Finnish girl takes the tram. She often sees the same passengers, and one day, she starts chatting with an old man. He's not originally from Finland, but from a city called Lodz, the girl explains in voice-over. The filmmaker intercuts shots of their peaceful tram trip with footage of an interview with the old man, but the girl tells us his whole story. As a Jew in Poland during World War II, he ended up in the ghetto with his family, where they were crammed in and treated like dirt. He then got deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the true hell began. A large selection of shocking photos from the war interlaces the story of the old man and the girl. Sounds of barking dogs, a passing train and screaming people can be heard in the background. Even if you're in a place where there's no war and you've never been through one, a compelling story can hit you like a bomb. The sunlight, people walking down the street, and typical daily traffic whiz by the girl's tram window. How would it feel to experience your childhood in such a terrible way?