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- Real Name
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Fighter
Studio: First Run Features
Year: 2001
Rated: NR
Film Length: 86
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame (1.33:1)
Subtitles: None
Recently, a small independent DVD company wrote
me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing
one of their films, Fighter -- a critically
acclaimed documentary that was released theatrically
last year and was just about to debut on DVD. I
can't begin to tell you what an experience it was
to watch Fighter, a very moving and personal
odyssey about two men who survived a terrible ordeal.
This is the story of Jan Wiener and Arnost Lustig,
two very close friends who share a common bond.
Wiener escaped from Nazi occupied Prague at the age
of 19. Arnost spent his adolescence in Nazi
concentration camps. It was almost fate that brought
them together in 1978 while both were living in the
United States.
As the documentary begins we meet the 77-year old
Jan Wiener who lives in Lenox, Massachusetts. As he
takes jabs at a punching bag, he talks about boxing:
"Its very similar to life," he says, "you have to
keep to rules that are strict." On a warm day, Jan
meets his 72-year old friend Arnost Lustig as they
agree to return to Prague to trace the steps that
Jan took during his struggle to get to London.
This is an extraordinary journey with fascinating
stories. In Czechoslovakia, Jan revisits the office
of a collaborator who granted him an exit visa but
told him not to expect to live long enough to wear
out more than one pair of shoes. Jan was determined
to one day return to Prague to get revenge on this
man for humiliating him. We hear how six years later,
Jan returned as a decorated war hero, found the very
same collaborator, put a gun to his head, and reminded
him of his treatment.
In Slovenia, Jan returns for the first time to the
house where his father committed suicide in 1941.
Jan painfully talks about being beside his father
who decided that it was better to take his own
life rather than have the Germans take it for him.
In Terezin, the men visit the ghetto and adjoining
concentration camp where Arnost spent his youthful
years, and where Jan's mother was murdered by the
Nazis. It's at this point that Director Amir Bar-Lev
chooses to show us an excerpt from The Fuhrer
Gives A City To The Jews, a propaganda film of
the time that deflected the atrocities inside the
camps.
Along the way, these friends discuss and reflect
upon their hardships. Though these two men share
a common bond in history, it is their
viewpoints of that history that are dramatically
opposite. It is these conflicts of opinion that
tests the strength of their friendship.
The most remarkable aspect of watching this
documentary is not in the many horror stories of
atrocities that we have heard time and time again,
but rather the way this film examines the relationship
and differences of opinions between these two elderly
men. Jan is a very bitter individual who's lived
life with a huge chip on his shoulder. But it is
that hate that helped him survive the war. On the
other hand, Arnost is a highly optimistic individual
with an incredible sense of humor, who you will
often find making jokes about the horrors he lived
through.
Director Armir Bar-Lev has created a sad and
uplifting straightforward documentary that traces
the journey of these two men as we watch dramatic
tension build between the two individuals. It's
a journey that most viewers will not soon forget.
How is the transfer?
Shot entirely on video, this documentary has
a beautiful rawness to it. Yes, it looks cheaply
produced, but it is that rawness that gives the
documentary its realism. The picture is generally
very clean, clear, and well lit. There has been
absolutely no degradation of picture in this
transfer to DVD.
The stereo soundtrack exhibits very little separation
across the front, but otherwise, sound is very clean
and distinct throughout.
Although I was disappointed that this film was not
presented in anamorphic widescreen for DVD, I must
remind myself that this was shot on video. There is
no excuse, however, for the lack of subtitles for
the hearing impaired.
Special Features
There's a full length commentary by Director
Amir Bar-Lev, Producers Jonathan Crosby and Alex
Mamlet. Right off the bat we learn about much of
the editing that had to be done to the film's
5-minute introduction of Wiener, including the
ommitence of a third Czech friend who was originally
interviewed for this documentary. It's interesting
to learn that Amir met Jan Wiener while attending
film school in the Czech republic. Here was this
good-looking old man with a vividly white moustache
who came in and told Amir his life story. He even
took the guys on a tour of Prague, pointing out
places where he slept with women after the war or
where his father drank in a dingy old bar. What
most attracted these filmmakers to Wiener was the
fact that unlike most stories told about the Jews and
the Holocaust, this was a story of a Jew who was
able to fight back. One of the stories we don't
hear in the documentary is about how after Jan
became a fighter bomber he started smuggling
cigarettes and important documents across the border,
and thus, he lived a rather lavish life style for
quite some time. Producers Crosby and Hamlet talk
about the length of time it took to shoot this
documentary -- 30 days of shooting spread over a
two year time period, with around-the-clock editing
that took an additional year. This is a wonderful
commentary for the fact that the filmmakers really
adore their elderly subjects, and have so many funny
side-stories to tell about their own adventures
filming alongside these men.
There are 13 individual segments of bonus footage
that sort of flesh out the backgrounds of these two
men. We are introduced to Arnost's class where
he talks to his students about the documentary and
how filmmakers are devils. We are introduced to Jan's
wife Zuzana, who talks about what a good experience
this project will be for her husband. Arnost returns
to a home he lost when he went into exile. There's
a rather touching sequence where amidst an argument,
the two men begin to tickle each other. In another
segment, Jan and Arnost talk about their loss of
religious faith. Finally, there's a wonderful
moment aboard a train where Arnost tells a joke.
All of these scenes played together run just under
21 minutes, and though they certainly would have
slowed the pacing of the feature, they are nonetheless
worth watching.
There's a small photo gallery that has 10
candid pictures of Jan and Arnost as well as
director Amir Bar-Lev and several of the film crew
team.
Final Thoughts
It's a tough to sell people on a documentary like
this when most home audiences are geared towards
watching a film that entertains them with visuals
and effects. If I can once in a while steer people
towards great documentaries such as this, then my
job as a reviewer becomes more fulfilling.
Fighter is a revealing and provocative
documentary that's often surprisingly funny. It's
a celebration of two very unique men who are amongst
the last of their kind. It's a bittersweet journey
that you will soon not forget.
Please do yourself a favor and at least rent this
film.
Release Date: Now
