Product Details

• Actors: Willem Dafoe, Edward James Olmos, Robert Loggia, Wendy Gazelle, Kelly Wolf
• Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: April 16, 2002
• Run Time: 120 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005V9HN
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,248 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Triumph of the Spirit" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

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

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.