I was supposed to interview Ben Foster a few months back and that never materialized. I’m bummed, as I think he’s one of the Top 10 actors working today. I first saw him as the right-hand-man, bad guy in the remake of 3:10 to Yuma. He was the bad brother in Hell or High Water, the best movie of 2016.
As boxer Harry Haft, he gives the best acting performance you’ll see this year.
I’m a sucker for boxing movies and books. I’m not as big a fan of Holocaust films (for reasons you’d expect). I remember my grandmother being so mad I didn’t want to see Schindler’s List when it came out. She yelled into the phone, “You’re a Jew! You have to see this!”
I just couldn’t figure out how it would be entertaining to watch (I was surprised, I was engrossed). And when I imagine Hollywood producers and money makers talking about pitches (because of the Robert Altman movie showing it so humorously in The Player), I could hear them saying “It’s Schindler’s List meets Raging Bull.”
Foster certainly reminds you of De Niro as LaMotta. He also gained and lost 60 pounds in the making of this picture, which is a true story.
Haft was a light-heavyweight who was a boxer in the late ‘40s. He went 13 and 8. The movie shows how, often times, in the ring, he was thinking about what he had to do when he was in the concentration camps – fight other Jews to the death, as the Nazis placed bets. It’s just insane to think that when you thought you knew of every atrocity the Nazis did in those camps, you find out something like this.
Haft talks to a reporter (Peter Skarsgaard), against the wishes of his brother and the other Polish Jews he hangs out with. Yet he feels this is the way to get word out to the woman he loved, who was taken to one of the camps. He figures that the subsequent publicity can help him score a fight with Rocky Marciano (who is arguably the greatest boxer in the history of the sport). For those of us who know boxing history, we know what the outcome of that fight will be.
The interactions with Marciano’s trainer (Danny DeVito, who also produced) are interesting. We find out he’s Jewish and lost family in the camps. The interactions with the reporter are sometimes odd. We are supposed to think the reporter is an opportunistic sort who is using Haft. I would have preferred to not go that cliche route with the character, but I get it.
This is based on the book by Harry’s son, and directed by the great Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Good Morning, Vietnam, Diner, The Natural, etc.). He does a wonderful job showing the flashbacks. Perhaps his only misstep (and it’s a small one) is the domestic elements, which sometimes meander. He gives us a powerful film that’s well-crafted, and beautifully shot; from the black-and-white of the ‘40s, and the softness of the washed-out colors in the ‘60s.
Haft’s trainer Pepe is played nicely by John Leguizamo, and Paul Bates is Barclay; Saro Emirze plays his brother Peretz. Billy Magnussen is incredible as the Nazi that’s training Haft. And it’s nice in a picture like this, the female roles (Vicky Krieps, and Israeli actress/model Dar Zuzovsky) have some meat to them.
It’s refreshing that a lot of these characters feel fully realized and not just one-note. It makes things feel so much more real and interesting. There’s one scene in which the Nazi and Haft are talking about his hatred of Jews that’s intriguing.
This can be a difficult film to watch (my eyes are literally sore from crying so much). You’ll feel even more sympathy for any soldier suffering PTSD, but on top of this, Haft was dealing with survivors' guilt and a lot of other things.
Hans Zimmer provides a wonderful score as well.
4 stars out of 5. You can catch it on HBO Max or Prime Video.