‘The Survivor’ wins a split decision with Harry Haft’s remarkable Holocaust story

The venture marks the fourth HBO movie from director Barry Levinson, whose previous efforts have been dedicated to Joe Paterno, Dr. Jack Kevorkian and Bernie Madoff. Whereas every of these figures are higher identified, for dramatic functions it is arduous to high Haft, who survived Auschwitz by boxing towards fellow prisoners to entertain the Nazis, earlier than emigrating to the US, the place his short-lived boxing profession included a memorable bout with future champ Rocky Marciano.

The main miscalculation includes the casting of Ben Foster, who is excellent as Haft, however roughly twice as outdated as he was throughout World Battle II. Though Foster performs the character over the course of a long time, these scenes — stark and brutal, shot in black and white — are so central to the film that the disparity between a personality barely out of his teenagers and the actor feels notably acute.

“These are the alternatives we made day by day,” he tells her, exhibiting a standard reluctance to debate what transpired in the course of the warfare that spills over into his later life as a husband and father.

When not flashing again, a lot of the main focus is on Haft’s boxing profession, with John Leguizamo as his coach, Danny DeVito as one other combat professional and Peter Sarsgaard as a sportswriter who takes an curiosity in his story. The bout with Marciano is superbly shot, although only a small a part of Haft’s life.

Tailored by Justine Juel Gillmer from a e-book by Haft’s son, Alan, “The Survivor” was produced in live performance with the Shoah Basis, becoming a member of the firmament of horrific Holocaust tales which can be each grisly of their depictions of what transpired and stirring examples of indomitable spirit and can.

It’s, by any measure, a really nice and provoking story. And if that does not translate into an ideal film, like Haft’s slugfest with Marciano, it makes a powerful sufficient exhibiting to greater than earn your respect.

“The Survivor” premieres April 27 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO, which, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.