In an unnamed East European country where communist tyranny has recently replaced Nazi tyranny, a Cardinal is falsely accused of treason. The Cardinal had withstood torture when he opposed the Nazis, so the regime knows it will not be able to use force to get him to make a false confession. The Interrogator, an old associate of the Cardinal's but now a Communist, is given the task of persuading him to make a public confession. He intends to do it by undermining the Cardinal's certainty in the righteousness of his resistance to the state. At first the Interrogator makes no progress. This leads the state authorities to grow impatient and try to trick the Cardinal with fake evidence. The Cardinal is easily able to deal with these clumsy attempts, which leave the state prosecutors humiliated. The Interrogator uses sleep deprivation, relentless questioning, and the deliberate upsetting of the Cardinal’s eating and sleep/wake patterns to weaken him. He eventually breaks the Cardinal's will by showing him he became a priest out of selfishness and vanity and to escape his childhood poverty, not out of goodness, virtue or benevolence, which everyone has always believed. To purge his sin, in the show trial that follows the Cardinal confesses to every lie of which he is accused, and is released to face a silent, bewildered crowd. There is a subplot about a young warder who is in love with a married woman , who wants to leave the country and join her husband.
The Cardinal was based on Croatian cardinal Aloysius Stepinac, who was a defendant in a show trial in Croatia and on Hungarian cardinal József Mindszenty, who was charged in Hungary. The film was shot in England and Belgium.
Reception
The film was controversial. It was seen as "pro-Communist" by some in Ireland; while in France, where the film was prohibited from being shown at Cannes, the film was labelled "anti-Communist." Likewise it was banned from the Venice Film Festival due to its being considered "so anti-Communist that it would be offensive to Communist countries". Some in Italy saw it as "anti-Catholic", but despite this the film was given an award by the International Catholic Office of the Cinema, and commended by Cardinal Griffin. The Radio Times, while praising the two main performances, wrote, "Peter Glenville's theatrical direction won't do much to persuade those without religious or political convictions to become involved". TV Guide wrote, "basically a photographed stage play, and although there are a few other actors, Hawkins and Guinness are center stage most of the time--their mano a mano a delight to watch. Director Glenville had to use all of his expertise to keep the film from being little more than talking heads, but his touch is sure". The New York Times called The Prisoner a "grim and gripping drama—which also happens to be an equally revealing motion picture, one of the best of the year...a film that will make you shiver—and think."
