The Champion: Le combat de la liberté

Absorbing but harrowing film to watch , however it's important to see these real life hero stories brought to our attention

Piotr Glowacki is spellbinding in his lead role as Teddy.

This is a tale of how a skill can make one's miserable enslaved existence more beneficial for the self and others. The skill saves some innocent and destroys some too; but no matter how hard the predicament might seem, there is always something to fight for. Dramatic near-death and comeback resurrection are truly inspiring.

Being currently in Poland I came across a good quality, war drama 'MISTRZ' (eng title: 'The Champion of Auschwitz') written and directed by Maciej Barczewski.

Synopsis: "True story of the pre war boxing champion Tadeusz "Teddy" Pietrzykowski, who in 1940 arrives with the first transport of prisoners to the newly created Auschwitz concentration camp. There, camp officers force him to fight for his and other prisoners' lives. However, with every win, he strengthens the hope that Nazis are not invincible. The camp authorities subject Teddy to a final fight, the stake of which is not only his life and freedom, but also the dignity and hope for the survival of the prisoners."

I am a huge boxing fanatic, so when I see films with boxing as a subject I am very judgmental and yet I am very impressed with the work done by Polish filmmakers telling the story of a boxer intertwined in to war time atrocities at Auschwitz concentration camp. Things like cinematography and lighting, as well as the technical aspects of filmmaking craft are always on the highest level in Polish cinema. 'The Champion...' does not disappoint in visual department, but also the fight choreographies are well filmed being both rather realistically dynamic and obtain descent believability factor.

I am also very pleasantly surprised by the lead performance by Piotr Glowacki, which previously I only saw in rather comedic roles. Here he excels at stoicism and emotional honesty, but also sense of physicality, which haven't bees seen in his previous film work.

Minor setback in terms of criticism can be mentioned that the score of the film is not only inspired by Hans Zimmer style from movie 'INTERSTELLAR'', but at times it seems directly copied. Now, being inspired by someone's work is one thing (as it can be the highest form of flattery) but when you copy musical motives it can leave a little unpleasant taste in all around very good quality movie. Then again some more casual viewers will not hear the commonality of both scores, as the score in 'The Champion...' works dramatically very well, it's just for my taste it's clearly copied from Zimmer style.

All and all 'The Champion of Auschwitz' ('MISTRZ') is worth recommending, especially if like me you find beauty in boxing as sport.

I don't care what anybody else says. This was an outstanding movie and I started crying at the end! Thank you! It was also so inspiring that it led me to write my very first review for a movie, so attaboy. If I were to critique the film's whole then all I would say is the fighting could've been a little more up to par, but other than that I honestly loved the movie. I'm here mostly as a fan that enjoyed the entirety of both how the main character tricked me because I didn't recognize who the actor was until I seen the credits and how he blended in with the storyline and environment! Outstanding work. Glad to be here!!!

I have never heard of this story before if I did, it has been a long time. I watched this in honor of all those who lost their lives in Auschwitz Concentration Camp and the other concentration camps. I didn't realize that this movie takes place during the early days of Auschwitz. Everything from the acting, to cinematography excellent but I have one main problem, if I want to watch a foreign film I expect to hear the native language like Polish and German and use English subtitles. This is one moving and yet powerful movie, and it will make you tear up when you see families heading for their deaths. And, yet it will make you angry all at the same time. It did for me.