Triumph of the Spirit |  | Director: Robert M. Young
Actors: Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, Robert Loggia, Wendy Gazelle, Kelly Wolf
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
List Price: $14.98
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New (11) from $12.49
Seller: djk_media
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 23997
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D1003338D
ISBN: 0792852257
UPC: 027616874870
EAN: 9780792852254
ASIN: B00005V9HN
Theatrical Release Date: 1989
Release Date: April 16, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Description
OscarÂ(r) nominees* Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire, Platoon), Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver) and Robert Loggia (Jagged Edge) deliver "performances [that] will astonish you" (Jeffrey Lyons) in this "extraordinary" (The Wall Street Journal) story of life, death and conscience. It "may be one of the most powerful films you will see in a lifetime" (KABC-TV). And most incredible of all, it's true! World War II was the time. Auschwitz was the place. Survival was the prize. Boxer Salamo Arouch (Dafoe) is interned in the Nazi death campwith his family and friends. For the amusement of his captors, Salamo is forced to fight his fellowinmates brutal contests that send the loser to the gas showers. Salamo's prowess in the ring is both his salvation and his nightmare, as his "victories" condemn others to death. Still he fights on, hoping he might somehow save his father his friends perhaps even his soul. *Dafoe: Supporting Actor, Shadow of the Vampire (2000); Supporting Actor, Platoon (1986); Olmos: Actor, Stand and Deliver (1988); Loggia: Supporting Actor, Jagged Edge (1985)
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 16
TO LIVE OR TO DIE? April 19, 2003
Boris Zubry (Princeton, NJ United States)
35 out of 36 found this review helpful
What does it take to live when your chances are equal to a zero? What does it mean to survive at the expense of the others? WWII, Greece, Germans, Jews, camps, death... A young, strong boxer has a chance to fight. The SS would have fun betting on it. If he wins, he gets to live a little longer and a loaf of bread. Many people get a piece of this bread but most of all is his father and a brother. They are all he still have. He wins and lives. The looser dies. Every time he wins, he saves whatever left of the family. Every time he wins, he kills the looser. At the end, only he survives. The whole family is dead. All friends are dead. Was he right? Was not it easier to die? Yes, it was easier to die but he selects the difficult way of living being responsible for deaths of other fighters. He was able to prolong lives of the loved ones. He lived to tell the story and to fight another day. His spirit was not broken but triumphed.This is an outstanding film with an excellent cast and the deepest power I have seen for a while. All I can say is see it for yourself and enjoy the best.
 The best Holocaust Movie January 19, 2001
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
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.
Better, more realistic than Schindler's List/Dafoe is Great January 2, 2003
Adam Bernstein (Northwest, USA)
16 out of 17 found this review helpful
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.
Even better than "Schindler's List" April 7, 2000
Leonard Ross (Calgary, Canada)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
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.
A deeply moving, excellent film... and a true story! December 29, 1999
FTATA23@aol.com (Massachusetts)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 16
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