Fighter

2000 Documentary

Two survivors of WWII atrocities meet in Fighter, an emotional road-trip documentary from director Amir Bar-Lev. The film follows friends Jan Wiener and Arnost Lustig as they journey from Prague to Italy -- the exact path that Wiener used to escape from a Nazi labor camp. Lustig is an author who seeks to write about his friend Wiener's experiences, but over the course of the film, each man shares his tale of oppression, escape, and emotional recovery. Both men recount tales of watching their parents die in ghettos, and being told that they wouldn't live to see adulthood. Far from being agreeable old chums, however, the two men philosophically bicker; after one such argument, they vowed that they would never speak to each other again, and filming halted until the two reconciled.

Director: Amir Bar-Lev

Reviews

  • Fighter shapes up as one of the great documentaries of this year, or any other.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    26 April 2013

  • Powerful, provocative and often surprisingly funny, this may be the year's outstanding documentary.

    Jonathan Foreman - New York Post

    26 April 2013

  • This exciting, ultimately bittersweet, film was shot cheaply on video, but is nevertheless filled with moments of artistry and invention.

    Ken Fox - TV Guide

    26 April 2013

  • In this movie the war is not quite over. For those who survived it, maybe it will never be.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    26 April 2013

  • In the end, Fighter, despite its newsreel footage, is less a document of wartime experience than of the mentality one needs to maintain in order to be a fighter.

    Jay Carr - The Boston Globe

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Documentary Feature Film/Video

    Hamptons International Film Festival (2000)

  • Amir Bar-Lev

    Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (2000)

  • Best Documentary

    Newport International Film Festival (2000)