The Prisoner

The Prisoner is a 1955 drama film directed by Peter Glenville and based on the play by Bridget Boland. The film stars Alec Guinness and Jack Hawkins. A Cardinal is falsely accused of treason because he represents a sect that is a range to the new regime. The Interrogator , an old friend of the Cardinal's, is given the task of persuading him to make a public confession of a treason. The Interrogator eventually breaks though by showing how the Cardinal became a priest to escape from his childhood. To purge his sin, the Cardina confesses 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 victim of a show trial staged by the communist regime led by Josip Broz Tito and on Hungarian cardinal József Mindszenty, who was also the victim of the communist-staged show trial, while the communist regime was fronted by Mátyás Rákosi and Árpád Szakasits.
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