THE SURVIVOR

US, 2021, 129 minutes, Colour.

Ben Foster, Billy Magnussen, Vicki Krieps, Peter Sarsgaard, Danny DeVito, John Leguizamo, Dar Zuzovsky, Paul Bates.

Directed by Barry Levinson.

The Survivor is well worth seeing.

This is the story of a Holocaust survivor, Harry Haft. While the film opens in 1963, Haft obviously a survivor and having prospered in some ways in the United States, the main action of the film takes place in 1949. And, within this framework, many flashbacks, filmed in black and white, the concentration camp. Audiences who appreciate the films which go back into the concentration camps, will find this most telling.

The film has been directed by veteran Barry Levinson, Oscar winner for Rain Man, writer of many films and then very successful as a director. And he is working with a complex screenplay effectively written by Sydney born Justine Jule Gilmer, whose early work was for Australian television, McClouds Daughters, Packed to the Rafters. The Survivor is her first film screenplay and he has written another screenplay about Irena Sandler, the Polish Catholic who rescued so many Jews from the ghetto

This is also a sports film. Harry Haft was separated from his girlfriend when she was taken to the camps, he surviving, chosen by an SS commander, played by Billy Magnusson, to find bouts for the entertainment of the Nazis, betting, and this is a great entrepreneurial success. These flashbacks also give the opportunity for audiences to see the harshness of life in the camp, the fights, and the final explanation by the commander about his attitudes towards the war and Nazi philosophy as well as a final confrontation between the two.

In 1949, Haft continues some boxing training and wants to fight against rocky Marciano despite his often lack of success in the ring. Very strong supporting cast for the training includes John Leguizamo as well as Danny DeVito, working for Marciano, but Jewish sympathies and taking time off to prepare Haft so that his defeat would be so devastating.

And there is the human story, Haft determined to find his lost girlfriend, encountering a young woman who works in a company searching out identities. They go out together, her supporting him, often exasperated with him, eventually marrying him.

Which means that this is a very strong film in terms of the Holocaust and Jewish tradition. But it is also a strong film in terms of the American sports world. And, in 1963, there is a very sad ending but one of affirmation for Harry Haft. The film is based on a book written by his son.

1. Based on a true story? A book by Harry Haft’s son?
2. The title, the concentration camps, Harry’s motive for survival, the United States, the boxing world picture and survival, surviving in the US?
3. The time frame, the opening in 1963, the range of flashbacks and their insertion, Poland and the concentration camps in black and white, 1949 and the boxing world in colour, 1963? The musical score, the Jewish melodies, hymns and chants?
4. The performance by Ben Foster, such loss of weight for the concentration camp scenes, putting on weight for the later 1940s and the 1960s episodes? The intensity of the performance, audience interest, like and dislike, sympathetic and unsympathetic?
5. The framework of the 1960s, audience knowing that there was some kind of happy development?
6. Harry, Polish Jew, with Leah, idyllic, her throwing stones, the arrest, her disappearance, Harry and his quest to find her, with the agency in New York, with Miriam, his angers and intensity, memories, yearning?
7. Harry in New York, his best friend, the boxing world, the gyms, his fights, friends, trainers? His defeats? The intensity of the boxing sequences? His wanting to fight Rocky Marciano, to get his name mentioned in the press, that Leah might see it (and the irony from the 1960s when she says she did see the write-ups but did not make contact)? The approaches, the discussions, the scepticism, finally getting the bout?
8. Harry and his training, the trainers and their personalities, working with him, the techniques, the importance of the dancing movements and his abilities? His visit to Marciano’s camp, the meeting with Charlie Goldman, Polish Jewish background, the warnings, ousting him, but having the camp with him, doing the training, that he should lose better and with more dignity that he might have? The importance of the fight, the result?
9. Harry, his moods, falling out with his friend?
10. The issue of the journalist, wanting his story, his friend wanting to keep quiet? The journalist and his questioning, Harry and his moods, the flashbacks, the story and the publication? The journalist watching the fights? And his promising to get information on Leah?
11. The importance of the flashbacks, the black-and-white photography, Harry and Leah her arrest? In the camp, amongst the many, the cumulative effect of the flashbacks and the narrative of his life in the camp, his friend and saving him? The parades, the hunger, the hard work, Harry and his attack? Schneider seeing him?
12. The significant events for Harry, Schneider patronising him, training him, the fights, to entertain the SS, the betting? The first fight, Harry and his reluctance, the appeal of the opponent for him to die with dignity, beaten, shot? The body taken away? The sequences of bodies, wagons, into the holes?
13. The consequences for Harry, Schneider and his character, smart and smooth, exploitative, yet some soft touches, the conversations, the training, the various bouts, his success, having to prove himself? The long sequence of the 30 rounds, the exhaustion, Harry and his reputation? The Jewish prisoners watching, the band playing, Harry and his being disliked, making his way through the crowd, for the celebration of Yom Kippur?
14. The insertion of the flashbacks of various stages in the story of the 1940s, the buildup to Harry, the possibility for escape, the confrontation with Schneider, his death?
15. Miriam, at the office, his insulting the head despite all the work, Miriam talking with him, going out with him, the boxing, his harshness, her being insulted, his pursuing her? Over the years, the marriage, her giving up her job, her character, her life with him?
16. The 1960s, the family, the shop, his work, the fruit? The children? His harshness on his son, thinking the son soft, wanting to train him, not telling him the story about his life?
17. The Germans, reappearing, the information about Leah? The family on holidays, at the beach? Miriam anxious? Harry, going off, the encounter with Leah, her life, her health, the discussions, his son watching? 20 years of Harry’s wanting to know her whereabouts, and finally meeting to say goodbye? And explaining his story to his son?
18. Harry living longer, his wife even longer, his children, and his son writing the story?