Cinema
The Boxer and Death
Boxer a smrť
Peter Solan · 1962
Synopsis
In a Nazi concentration camp, Commandant Kraft, a boxer, is preparing his return to the ring for after the war. Among the prisoners marked for execution is Ján Komínek, a former boxer: Kraft spares him to make him his sparring partner. As he regains his strength, Komínek spots Kraft's weaknesses and hides his own capabilities in order to stay alive. The film tests the idea that two opponents can fight according to the rules of fair play only on equal terms.
Context
The film adapts a story by the Polish writer Józef Hen, who wrote the screenplay with Tibor Vichta and the director; the cinematography is by Tibor Biath, the music by Wiliam Bukový. Štefan Kvietik plays Komínek opposite the German Manfred Krug, and the story is loosely inspired by the life of the Polish boxer Tadeusz Pietrzykowski. The first Slovak psychological drama set in the world of the concentration camps, it won an award at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1963. The Karlovy Vary festival showed it in 2009 in a tribute to its director.
Who it is for
A sober black-and-white drama of about a hundred minutes, more psychological than spectacular.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as its director's major work, shot during the golden years of Slovak cinema.