Rating: 
Summary: Warning: Emotional roller coaster ahead....
Review: Dafoe gives an extraordinary performance in this inspirational film detailing his and his familys struggle's during WWII. Dafoes character and the relationships with his father and wife are the best part of this film. The characters endure a life-time of hardship in a few short years but maintain there hope and dignity. This movie inspires both tears and jubilation but the ride is worth it. -RL
Rating:
Summary: The best Holocaust Movie
Review: I agree with Leonard Ross, this movie is much better than Schindler's List. It is much more accurate and gritty and realistic in its portrayal of life in the camps. It is also a movie about family bonds, love and relationships and shows how these bonds were ravaged by what took place during WW II. Short of showing actual film footage in my classroom, this movie speaks volumes about the plight of the Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Rating:
Summary: The best Holocaust Movie
Review: I agree with Leonard Ross, this movie is much better than Schindler's List. It is much more accurate and gritty and realistic in its portrayal of life in the camps. It is also a movie about family bonds, love and relationships and shows how these bonds were ravaged by what took place during WW II. Short of showing actual film footage in my classroom, this movie speaks volumes about the plight of the Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Rating: 
Summary: UPSET
Review: I am more disatified with nearly all the reviews then the movie itself. This boxer had basically become a specialized kapo. And if you don't know what a kapo is, it is a prisoner who turns against their own and gets more food and other things denied to the others. In slavery regarding the blacks, there were people who turned in their own relatives to have a better chance of not being a slave themselves. In Auschwitz and other death camps, some of the kapos started liking hurting and killing their own and some even were geniunelly pleased when Nazi overseer's praised them for their 'work'. I can understand this is probably
human nature at its worst and could hardly be helped, but how can this be a triumph of the spirit? It was a global tragady. If your going to make a movie about this boxer, why not make a movie
of other kapos who were worse. Will the movie be called 'Triumph of the spirit again'? This boxer was lucky other Jews didn't kill him after liberation because fellow prisoners with 'lower'
status killed some of the kapos after liberation for their betrayal to their own people. This was legally wrong, but once again, it was human nature for some, ie revenge or even a slight bit of personal justice. To roughly quote a Holocaust survivor, this is not meant to dishonor the prisoners who did bad things to fellow prisoners. It was a man-made society that failed miserably and utterly dishonored itself. I prefer seeing a movie referring to all the good things prisoners did
for others even sacrificing their lives for others in the camps, like the prisoner who didn't have to, but joined 200 children all alone in the gas chambers to comfort them while they were in horror and death. THAT type of example is truely 'Triumph of the Spirit' and if people can't see that, then this world is really in trouble.
Rating:
Summary: Horrifying account of the depravity of man
Review: I have just finished viewing this movie and am speechless. First, to have the movie shot on location at Auschwitz with the remains of the camp in use and in view was numbing. To actually see the "mock" selections, assurances of a hot shower and the lie of the "health camp" for children put a touch of realism to some of the Holocaust survivor accounts that I have read. I did not live through the Holocaust but if this movie was one tenth of one percent of what it really was like, may God comfort and be merciful to the survivors and their families. I have never heard of the main character, played by Willem Dafoe, but he must have been a very brave man. I salute you, sir and as a Christian, I ask your forgiveness for what was done to the Jewish people in the name of Jesus Christ. I cautiously recommend this film for any serious student of the Holocaust, and urge that the message therein never be forgotten or repeated. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: A deeply moving, excellent film... and a true story!
Review: This amazing story is beautifully acted by Dafoe and Loggia, as well as the other cast. It is my very favorite of the films I've seen portraying the tragedy of the death camps. I recommend it to anyone as a film not just of the triumph of the spirit, but as a triumph of love over suffering and loss. It may not be easy to watch such a film as this, but it is important for us to watch it and to learn from it.
Rating:
Summary: A deeply moving, excellent film... and a true story!
Review: This amazing story is beautifully acted by Dafoe and Loggia, as well as the other cast. It is my very favorite of the films I've seen portraying the tragedy of the death camps. I recommend it to anyone as a film not just of the triumph of the spirit, but as a triumph of love over suffering and loss. It may not be easy to watch such a film as this, but it is important for us to watch it and to learn from it.
Rating:
Summary: Even better than "Schindler's List"
Review: This is one of the best movies I have ever seen, and, alongwith Life is Beautiful, the best Holocaust movie made (in myopinion). Unlike Schindler's List, this movie portrays graphically what was really going on in the Auschwitz death camp (and other camps as well). It showed people undressing, preparing to enter the gas chamber. It showed the hellish daily life of the camp inmates--the agonizing work they had to do for the majority of each day, their horrific sleeping conditions, their deprivation of food, and the incredibly frequent beating and murdering of the prisoners by sick, sadistic Nazis. What really got to me the most was how the main character was actually getting thinner from starvation as the movie went on! Scindler's List was a very dramatic, moving, well done movie, but it didn't accurately portray the true horrors of the Holocaust. The director was probably afraid to show anything that would be too graphic and disturbing for the general public and film critics. Spielberg was right in being cautious, as few people would be able to stomach a movie like Triumph of the Spirit. That is probably why this movie is virtually unknown. My only complaint about this movie is that the main character gave a rather limp performance. A better actor in his place would have made this an absolutely perfect movie.
Rating:
Summary: Better, more realistic than Schindler's List/Dafoe is Great
Review: Triumph of the Spirit is probably the most realistic dramatic recreation of the horrors of Auschwitz I've seen. Director Robert Young is a pro at bringing controversial independent films to fruition, and Dafoe gives one of his best performances here. He portrays Salamo Arouch, a Greek Jewish Olympic boxer deported to Auschwitz. This true story was filmed on location at Auschwitz and Birkenau (Auschwitz II) and we are shown the death machine in full operation. Again there is an intensity and realism to this film that makes Schindler's List pale in comparison.
Edward James Olmos portrays a gypsy singer who becomes a key ally of Salamo; Gypsy entertains the SS and Salamo boxes for them while they hope for the Russians to come. One relatively minor flaw of the film is that the actors who portray SS and camp guards seem benign, almost nice at times, and I really doubt the actual female guards were as good looking as a few of the Frauleins here.
But a good touch of realism is the languages. The Germans speak German, the Poles speak Polish, and the Russians speak Russian all without subtitles (compare this to Schindler's List). And the make up job was great; the victims really looked like they were on death's door.
If you want to know about the Holocaust this drama is near the top of the list with the best documentaries. And Polanski's "The Piano" should be good too.
Rating:
Summary: Better, more realistic than Schindler's List/Dafoe is Great
Review: Triumph of the Spirit is probably the most realistic dramatic recreation of the horrors of Auschwitz I've seen. Director Robert Young is a pro at bringing controversial independent films to fruition, and Dafoe gives one of his best performances here. He portrays Salamo Arouch, a Greek Jewish Olympic boxer deported to Auschwitz. This true story was filmed on location at Auschwitz and Birkenau (Auschwitz II) and we are shown the death machine in full operation. Again there is an intensity and realism to this film that makes Schindler's List pale in comparison.
Edward James Olmos portrays a gypsy singer who becomes a key ally of Salamo; Gypsy entertains the SS and Salamo boxes for them while they hope for the Russians to come. One relatively minor flaw of the film is that the actors who portray SS and camp guards seem benign, almost nice at times, and I really doubt the actual female guards were as good looking as a few of the Frauleins here.
But a good touch of realism is the languages. The Germans speak German, the Poles speak Polish, and the Russians speak Russian all without subtitles (compare this to Schindler's List). And the make up job was great; the victims really looked like they were on death's door.
If you want to know about the Holocaust this drama is near the top of the list with the best documentaries. And Polanski's "The Piano" should be good too.
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