Triumph of the Spirit

Starring:Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, Robert Loggia, Wendy Gazelle, Kelly Wolf, Costas Mandylor, Kario Salem, Edward Zentara, Hartmut Becker, Burkhard Heyl, Zofia Saretok, Grazyna KrukÃ³wna, Karolina Twardowska, Juranda Krol, Wiktor Mlynarczyk, Jerzy Gralek, Jack Messinger, Tuvia Tavi, Danny Segev, Avi Keidar
Director: Robert M. Young
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Product Type: DVD

Average customer rating:

A holocaust must see.
UPSET
TO LIVE OR TO DIE?
Horrifying account of the depravity of man
Better, more realistic than Schindler's List/Dafoe is Great

Triumph of the Spirit
Starring: Willem Dafoe , Edward James Olmos , Robert Loggia , Wendy Gazelle , and Kelly Wolf
Director: Robert M. Young
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005V9HN
Release Date: 2002-04-16

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)

Customer Reviews:

A holocaust must see........2007-01-19

This is a well acted story about a terrible time in human history. The character played by Willem DaFoe comes across as brave, strong, yet tender as well.

UPSET.......2004-12-23

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.

TO LIVE OR TO DIE?.......2003-04-19

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.

Horrifying account of the depravity of man.......2003-01-25

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.

Better, more realistic than Schindler's List/Dafoe is Great.......2003-01-02

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.

Average customer rating:

The most wasted two hours of my life since I watched "The Ice Storm"
If we only cared about the characters....
A Great Concept Movie
A Truly Beautiful Film

The Affair
Starring: Kelsey Oldershaw , Andy Mackenzie , Horacio Le Don , Elizabeth Jean , and Barbara Kerr Condon
Director: Kelsey Oldershaw , and Carl Colpaert
Manufacturer: Triumph Marketing
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

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( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B00022I9FO
Release Date: 2005-11-15

Description

Trapped within the modernist confines of her remote canyon home and stifling marriage to her uptight architect husband Paul (Horatio LeDon Bullet, Haunted Sea), lonely housewife Jean (Kelsey Oldershaw What Women Want, Cinema/Verite, ER) finds liberation and comfort in the arms of Viggo (Andy Mackenzie Throttle, Rock Star 101, Thank Heaven), her free-wheeling and decidedly bohemian lover. Somewhere between the extremes of her new-found freedom and the ordered structure of her marriage lies the path to true happiness... if only she can find the way.

Customer Reviews:

The most wasted two hours of my life since I watched "The Ice Storm".......2007-03-13

Oh......my.......God. What the hell is this movie about? The lead character is completely infuriating. Jesus, woman, if you are so damn bored then go get a job instead of wandering around in your house feeling sorry for yourself and going out spending your husband's money! I have absolutely no connection to this character. Is it too much to ask that she have some initiative, take some responsibility for the state of her life instead of blaming it all on her husband? And then she tries to solve her problem by sleeping with a tatooed, drug-using scumbag with no job, for whom she has to pay the rent on his bathroomless trailer?

Disjointed, badly written, indiscernible motivation for most characters and events, and a really obvious attempt at forcing an unrealistically libertarian philosophy of relationships. Real people do not relate to each other like this, at least, none that I have ever met.

Don't waste your time on this movie.

If we only cared about the characters...........2007-01-05

Belgian Carl Colpaert has a solid reputation as the founder of CINEVILLE Releasing, as a producer of some very fine small films (Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, Where Eskimos Live, Surviving Eden, Hurlyburly, etc) and has directed and written a few less interesting ones. This film THE AFFAIR (originally titled TOPANGA) tries hard to be a European flavored examination of relationships, but for this viewer it falls short not only in story (scripted by Colpaert and Lisa Larrivee) and in a fuzzy cast of TV actors, but also in the directorial stance of being in control of a story that needs a lot of attention.

Jean (Kelsey Oldershaw) is a bored housewife living in a designer house with her architect husband Paul (Horacio Le Don), a man of success who is so self-centered and controlling that he forgets his relationship obligations to his wife. Jean has residual scars from a traumatic childhood experience and her needs go beyond the wifely role, searching for some degree of excitement, passion and fulfillment not available in her marriage. At a local dance club she meets Viggo (Andy Mackenzie), a bohemian passionate, live for the moment guy who sweeps Jean off her feet in an affair that produces disaster in her marriage. The story concentrates on the intricacies of this love triangle, offering alternative ways to approach love, needs, and responsibilities.

The notion is solid (if quite over used) and there are aspects of the film that suffuse the atmosphere with tension and artsy techniques. But in the end the story and the actors elude our concern and we are left feeling like window peeping voyeurs, wondering why we are sneaking a peek.
Grady Harp, January 06

A Great Concept Movie.......2004-09-03

Well, I loved this movie. I loved the way the director and actors negotiated the trepidations of the story and the way Jean and Viggo discovered themselves. This is an all around great story about humanity and a must-see for anyone searching for love.

A Truly Beautiful Film.......2004-09-02

The atmosphere in The Affair is dreamlike, accentuating the characters' internal feelings and how they see their surroundings, rather than simply showing the city as it really is. The film's greatest strength comes from its sad wisdom about relationships and the way its protagonists recognize how precarious their connection is.

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