The Survivor

"The Survivor" is an important film with an indelible performance from Ben Foster.

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Watching director Barry Levinson’s “The Survivor” (now available on HBO and HBO Max) would be a powerful experience on any given day. It was especially moving to see it yesterday morning during Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The picture is the first collaboration between Levinson and actor Ben Foster since they initially partnered for Foster’s breakthrough in 1999’s “Liberty Heights.” It’s the true-life story of Harry Haft, a Polish-Jewish survivor of Auschwitz who was forced by SS officer Dietrich Schneider (Billy Magnussen) to fight fellow inmates to the death for the entertainment of their Nazi captors. Harry takes his pugilistic skills stateside in the late 1940s and begins competing as a light heavyweight prizefighter.

Harry’s brother Perez (Saro Emirze) encourages him to hang up the fight game and find a nice woman with whom to settle down. This is an impossibility for Harry as he’s using boxing to gain notoriety in hopes that his fame will reconnect him with Leah (Dar Zuzovsky), the love from whom he was separated when they were forced into different concentration camps.

Against Perez’s wishes, Harry shares his story with reporter Emory Anderson (Peter Sarsgaard). Anderson’s reporting nets Harry a fight with legendary boxer Rocky Marciano (Anthony Molinari), but it also leads to a backlash amongst many Jewish-Americans who consider him a traitor to their people.

Aiding Harry in his search for Leah is Miriam Wofsoniker (Vicky Krieps), a woman who lost her fiancé Steve in the Pacific and now works at an agency that reunites survivors with their missing loved ones. Over time the two develop a friendship, which blossoms into a romance. Harry tells Miriam he’s willing to share her with Steve if she’s willing to share him with Leah. The two marry, open a grocery and have three children together, but Harry’s PTSD from his time in the camps and a longing for Leah leave him at an arm’s length from his family.