Fresh from the archives in a sparkling new print, this long overlooked classic from Czechoslovakia hasn't aged a day in the decades since it was made. With a bitter but masterful sense of irony it tells the story of a Slovakian inmate of a Nazi prison camp, who finds himself spared from the ovens but forced into an even worse predicament: he's fattened up to act as a sparring partner for the camp's amateur boxer commandant. The stark black and white realism of the film belies the often complex, co-dependent relationship between the two men. For the prisoner Kominek every boxing lesson becomes a contest between pride and humiliation, pitting his will to survive (i.e. take a beating) against his urge to KO an inferior opponent, and certainly die as a result. For the commandant Kraft (translation: Power) it's an ideal opportunity to exercise his notions of fair play and good sportsmanship, two concepts which become all the more warped and inhuman as smoke from the crematoriums fills the sky overhead.
3 Reviews
A Great Boxing Movie
cafescott21 February 2005
"Boxer a smrt" is one of the greatest boxing movies ever made. It kind of reflects the old boxing saw that the "good big man will always beat the good small man." We can predict from the opening credits that the concentration camp commander is not nearly as good of a boxer as the prisoner. Yet, it is very interesting to watch the spectacle of the two men with dramatically different stations in the concentration camp meeting and then taking up the gloves against each other.
Kopinek (played by Stefan Kvietik) initially cannot last a round. Eventually he looks pretty damn good on his feet. The wonder of this film is that Kraft (i.e., Manfred Krug), in the interest of "sport", allows Kopinek to get stronger and to actually fight back. However, Kraft is a cold-blooded killer and we never know how far Kopinek can go until the film's end.
Kopinek (played by Stefan Kvietik) initially cannot last a round. Eventually he looks pretty damn good on his feet. The wonder of this film is that Kraft (i.e., Manfred Krug), in the interest of "sport", allows Kopinek to get stronger and to actually fight back. However, Kraft is a cold-blooded killer and we never know how far Kopinek can go until the film's end.
"I love red roses,they grow wild in our place."
morrison-dylan-fan18 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
After recently viewing the sparkling experimental Czech New Wave character piece Before This Night Is Over (1966-also reviewed) and I was interested in seeing more by film maker Peter Solan. With fellow IMDber manfromplanetx having introduced me to Night,I was excited to see them praising another Solan title,which led to me getting a seat for the boxer.
View on the film:
Shadowing Kraft's boxing training over the opening credits,co-writer/(with Jozef Hen and Tibor Vichta) director Peter Solan & cinematographer Tibor Biath hit a knock out with an exceptional cut to Kraft in his Nazi uniform. Held prisoner by the ropes round the ring and the wire round the camp, Solan displays a Czech New Wave (CNW) stylisation in the precision of framing the sickening smoke from the gas chambers in the background as a constant reminder for Kominek, to the black, engulfing death that rules every move he makes in the ring. Facing off against the boxing Nazi,Solan makes each round Kominek takes nail-biting, a subtle sound design giving the punches a thump, which is handled with elegant,spaced two-shots freely letting tension build, all topped by CNW experimentation in going first-person for the knock-out.
Based upon the life of Polish boxer Tadeusz "Teddy" Pietrzykowski (who survived being in the Auschwitz and Neuengamme concentration camps) the screenplay by Solan/ Hen and Vichta make what should be genres which stand at odds with each other, (Sports, War and Drama) become an allied force with incredible ease. Chained to entering the ring by Kraft, the writers dig into the burning fearful pressure on Kominek to pull his punches, in full Knowledge that Kraft can have him sent to the gas chamber with a mere click of his fingers. At first a punching bag for Kraft, the writers delicately re-build the confidence of Kominek that the Nazis have tried to strip into a bitter sweet crescendo where the sound of the bell from the boxing ring fades,but Kominek can never feel freedom from the siren of the camp.
Possibly playing the only Nazi in cinema shown using a skipping rope, Manfred Krug gives a ferocious performance as Kraft, via keeping his viciousness always under the surface, where even when Kraft is being playful towards Kominek, Krug keeps Kraft power-dominating claws visible. Pushing himself up from the mat, Stefan Kvietik gives an excellent, hard-hitting turn as Kominek, pulling no punches in expressing across Kominek's face towards the loyally he has towards his fellow prisoners,and the psychological calculations he must make as the boxer who faces death.
View on the film:
Shadowing Kraft's boxing training over the opening credits,co-writer/(with Jozef Hen and Tibor Vichta) director Peter Solan & cinematographer Tibor Biath hit a knock out with an exceptional cut to Kraft in his Nazi uniform. Held prisoner by the ropes round the ring and the wire round the camp, Solan displays a Czech New Wave (CNW) stylisation in the precision of framing the sickening smoke from the gas chambers in the background as a constant reminder for Kominek, to the black, engulfing death that rules every move he makes in the ring. Facing off against the boxing Nazi,Solan makes each round Kominek takes nail-biting, a subtle sound design giving the punches a thump, which is handled with elegant,spaced two-shots freely letting tension build, all topped by CNW experimentation in going first-person for the knock-out.
Based upon the life of Polish boxer Tadeusz "Teddy" Pietrzykowski (who survived being in the Auschwitz and Neuengamme concentration camps) the screenplay by Solan/ Hen and Vichta make what should be genres which stand at odds with each other, (Sports, War and Drama) become an allied force with incredible ease. Chained to entering the ring by Kraft, the writers dig into the burning fearful pressure on Kominek to pull his punches, in full Knowledge that Kraft can have him sent to the gas chamber with a mere click of his fingers. At first a punching bag for Kraft, the writers delicately re-build the confidence of Kominek that the Nazis have tried to strip into a bitter sweet crescendo where the sound of the bell from the boxing ring fades,but Kominek can never feel freedom from the siren of the camp.
Possibly playing the only Nazi in cinema shown using a skipping rope, Manfred Krug gives a ferocious performance as Kraft, via keeping his viciousness always under the surface, where even when Kraft is being playful towards Kominek, Krug keeps Kraft power-dominating claws visible. Pushing himself up from the mat, Stefan Kvietik gives an excellent, hard-hitting turn as Kominek, pulling no punches in expressing across Kominek's face towards the loyally he has towards his fellow prisoners,and the psychological calculations he must make as the boxer who faces death.
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