Product Details

• Actors: Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, Robert Loggia
• Directors: Robert M. Young
• Producers: Arnold Kopelson, Shimon Arama
• Format: Color
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Epic Home Video
• Run Time: 120.0 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0009X2CX6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #339,319 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

The rules were simple: you lose, you die. Survival was the prize. It is 1939. Salamo Arouch (Willem Dafoe, PLATOON) was the middleweight boxing champion of the Balkans. But when the Nazis occupy Greece, he, his family and friends are rounded up and sent to Poland. To the Auschwitz death camp. While the people of his village are tortured, hung, shot or gassed, Salamo is given a chance to survive. For the entertainment of the SS officers, he must fight against a fellow inmate.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars TO LIVE OR TO DIE?, April 19, 2003

By 

Boris Zubry "Boris Zubry" (Princeton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Triumph of the Spirit (DVD)

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.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Holocaust Movie, January 19, 2001

By 

"jlsdunton" (Otisville, Mi United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Triumph of the Spirit [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better, more realistic than Schindler's List/Dafoe is Great, January 2, 2003

By 

Adam Bernstein "sixtiesuniverse" (Northwest, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Triumph of the Spirit [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.