Triumph of the Spirit (1989)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Robert M. Young

Writers (WGA):

Shimon Arama (story) &
Zion Haen (story) ...

Release Date:

6 April 1990 (Sweden)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Sport

Plot:

Fact based story about a former Greek Olympic boxer (Dafoe) who was taken as a prisoner during World war II and placed in the Auschwitz prison camp...

Plot Keywords:

Prison | Auschwitz | Boxer | Greek | Historical

Cast

Willem Dafoe	...	Salamo Arouch
Edward James Olmos	...	Gypsy
Robert Loggia	...	Father Arouch
Wendy Gazelle	...	Allegra
Kelly Wolf	...	Elena
Costas Mandylor	...	Avram Arouch
Kario Salem	...	Jacko
Edward Zentara	...	Janush
Hartmut Becker	...	Maj. Rauscher
Burkhard Heyl	...	Aide to Rauscher
Zofia Saretok	...	Momma
Grazyna Krukówna	...	Sister Julie
Karolina Twardowska	...	Bemmi
Juranda Krol	...	Sarah
Wiktor Mlynarczyk	...	Beppo

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, Poland

Company:

Nova International Films

Trivia:

Director Robert M. Young was initially hesitant to take on this project when given the original script. He felt that the subject was too voluminous to be incorporated into one movie. He later agreed when presented with a revised script that focused only on one small element in the death camp, or in Young's own words "like a cork, bubbling on the surface of the sea."

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the movie, Salamo Arouch was depicted as having married "Allegra" shortly before being sent to Auschwitz. In reality, Arouch met her for the first time after they had both been liberated from Auschwitz in 1945 and were subsequently married. Furthermore, "Allegra" was a name used by the writers for artistic reasons, his wife's real name was Marta Yechiel.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Triumph of the Spirit' (1990)

Depressing

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.