Solidrariol
Am I Missing Something?
AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Wyatt
There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
Koustubh Bhattacharya
This is an exceptional tale of an extremely talented and gifted sportsman surviving an immoral, insane, racist, despotic ideology through the one thing he knows best, boxing. It's an ode to a man refusing to accept the obvious fate and fighting to stay alive in spite of the total degeneration and breakdown of all humanity around him. In a way I compare this movie to 'The Pianist' and unlike many other holocaust movies, this movie depicts the protagonist fighting back his tormentors and even bettering them as they hate him for winning every time. All this time he is like a Gladiator, fighting other men who are in same position as his, just to entertain ruthless Nazi officials while he is constantly aware that if he loose he would surely die. The movie is aptly named after Salamo's undying perseverance for life where his soul was been trampled. The death camp scenes sure hint that movies like Schindler's list and life is beautiful borrow heavily in visual style from this movie. Though the violence in the movie is more of suggestive and less graphic than its successors yet it proves quite moving due to a very convincing performance of William Dafoe (I am sure he did work hard to get in shape and develop such agility for a boxer), and to the fact that all this happened in reality. Also the soundtrack was successful in carrying the heaviness of the movie. Sure it is a seriously made movie on one of the most shameful happenings of modern human history. But at one point it can also be seen as a great boxing movie. It is like capturing the psychology of a tormented and tortured warrior, and the movie does that well.
kikiloveslegwarmers
Just finished seeing Triumph of the Spirit. What a sad, bleak, dark, and depressing film.This was based on the true story of Greek Balkins Middleweight Champion Salamo Arouch who was undefeated before World War II. Once the Nazi army invades Greece, Arouch, his entire family, and all the Jews in Greece are shipped off to the Nazi death camp in Austwitz.With-in moments, all the women in Arouch's family are murdered in the gas showers. He is forced with his family and brother to work at slave-labor. Arouch is brutalized by a camp Kapo who happens to be a professional boxer as well. In a brutal scene, Arouch and the Kapo have a fist fight with Arouch scoring a knockout and a Nazi camp guard finishes off the Kapo with a gun shot to the head. Arouch is then forced to box in the camp for the Nazi officers who bet on the "boxing" matches. Only problem, the losing boxer ends up the "chimney stack". A heart-wrenching and brutal story. Shocking to realize that not only did the Nazi murder, torture, starve and kill the inmates at Auswitz, but they also forced all the professional Jewish boxers to put on "Galdiator" matches for their entertainment.The Triumph of The Spirt is a triumph of film-making. A very depressing one at that.
patpar63
this is by far one of the best movies on the holocaust i've seen. what makes this different from the rest is that it focuses on greek jews, aka "gypsies" in the concentration camps. this story is based on fact. it's about the life of Salamo Arouch, who was a boxer before the war and boxing is part of what helped him survive. a wonderful story of how one man's love for his family and friends, and his own fierce spirit, allowed him to overcome the atrocities at hand and live to tell his story...one that inspires all who see it.
helpless_dancer
After being taken with his family to a Nazi death camp, a man is forced to box his fellow inmates for the entertainment of the camp officials. In constant fear for his life, as well as that of his family, he must endure a living hell just to survive. This tale of the concentration camp has been done and re-done, but this was a fresh look at that time in history. Well worth seeing.
