The Survivor
Cert 18 | ★★★★✩

In The Survivor, acclaimed Jewish writer-director-producer Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Sleepers, Wag The Dog) tells the real-life story of Harry Haft, an Auschwitz concentration camp survivor-turned boxer. Based on a biography written by Haft’s son Alan Scott Haft, the film is a co-production between HBO and the USC Shoah Foundation.

It stars Jewish American actor Ben Foster (My Name Is Earl, Kill Your Darlings, Leave No Trace) as Haft and Billy Magnussen as the SS officer who forced him to fight fellow camp prisoners to stay alive. Vickie Krieps (Phantom Thread, Bergman Island), Israeli actor Dar Zuzovsky (Hostages), Peter Sarsgaard (Night Moves, Black Mass, Jackie) and the legendary Danny DeVito also star.

It’s set in 1950s New York, where boxer Harry has made somewhat of a name for himself as the famous Auschwitz survivor. But despite his talent, Harry has only one wish in life, and that is to be reunited with Leah (Zuzovsky), now believed to have perished in the camps. Having exhausted all avenues in his search, Harry reluctantly agrees to give an interview to Emory Anderson (Sarsgaard) in the hope that Leah might read it.

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Danny DeVito plays a Jewish boxing trainer working for world heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano

Harry goes on to recount how as a prisoner at Auschwitz, he was forced by a sadistic SS officer (Magnussen) to fight his own kind to the death to stay alive. When the interview is published, Harry is shunned by his community, but is eventually taken in by Charley Goldman (DeVito), a Jewish trainer working for boxing champion Rocky Marciano.

While not exactly earth-shattering in its technical originality, there is a great story here to be told and Foster gives a strong and beautifully understated performance. Krieps too is fantastic as Harry’s long-suffering wife Miriam, but in the end it is Magnussen who steals almost every single scene he’s in.

Levinson has once again delivered a deeply moving and beautifully acted story about an extraordinary individual. Elevated by Justine Juel Gillmer’s engaging screenplay, The Survivor might make for a bleak watch, but its message is that of love and forgiveness.