''Victor "Young" Perez'' , also known as ''Surviving Auschwitz'' in the United Kingdom, is a 2013 French

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

sports drama A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the sp ...

film depicting the life of the boxer and Auschwitz concentration camp prisoner Victor Perez. The film was directed by Jacques Ouaniche, written by Jacques Ouaniche and Yoni Darmon, and stars

Brahim Asloum Brahim Asloum ( ar, إبراهيم اسلوم, born 31 January 1979 in Bourgoin-Jallieu, Isère) is a French boxer. He won the Light Flyweight Gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics. His Olympic win was France's first Olympic gold medal in boxi ...

as Perez, with Isabella Orsini and

Bruce Payne Bruce Martyn Payne (born 22 November 1958) is an English actor, producer, screenwriter, film director and theatre director. Payne is best known for portraying villains, such as Charles Rane in '' Passenger 57'', Jacob Kell in '' Highlander: En ...

in supporting roles.

Plot

''Victor "Young" Perez'' tells the astonishing, harrowing and poignant story of a

Tunisian Jewish The history of the Jews in Tunisia extended nearly two thousand years and goes back to the Ancient Carthage, Punic era. The Jewish community in Tunisia is no doubt older and grew up following successive waves of immigration and proselytism ...

boxer, who became the World

Flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of b ...

Champion in 1931 and 1932. Perez started training as a boxer at age 14 along with his older brother Benjamin "Kid" Perez and rose to great fame thanks to the help and guidance of Leon Bellier. Moreover, he had a love affair with French-Italian actress Mireille Balin. The 5'1", 110-pound Perez won the International Boxing Union's version of the World Flyweight crown by a 2nd-round knockout of US-American champion

Frankie Genaro Frank "Frankie" Genaro (born DiGennaro, August 26, 1901 – December 27, 1966) was an American former Olympic gold medalist and a 1928 National Boxing Association (NBA) World flyweight Champion. He is credited with engaging in 130 bouts, record ...

, subsequently becoming the youngest world champion in boxing history. Perez got arrested in Paris on September 21, 1943 and was detained in the

Drancy internment camp Drancy internment camp was an assembly and detention camp for confining Jews who were later deported to the extermination camps during the German occupation of France during World War II. Originally conceived and built as a modernist urban commu ...

France, before being transported to the German extermination camp in Auschwitz where he was assigned to the Monowitz subcamp to serve as a slave laborer. Victor Perez arrived at Auschwitz on October 10, 1943, as part of "Transport 60" a group of 1,000. He was held in AuschwitzIII/Monowitz. While there he was forced to fight in boxing matches for the amusement of the SS command. By 1945 Victor had survived 140 bouts in 15 months. Perez was one of the prisoners on the

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Conven ...

that left the camp on January 18, 1945.

Cast

as Victor 'Young' Perez * Isabella Orsini as Mireille Balin *

as Commandant Heinrich Schwarz *Steve Suissa as Benjamin Perez *Denis Sandler as German boxing promoter *Alaa Safi as Battling Mokhtar *Olivier Sa as Frankie Genaro *Sava Dragunchev as presenter

Release and reception

The film was released in France on 20 November 2013. According to film critic Virgil Dumez, 'despite obvious stylistic blunders, ''Victor Young Perez'' takes the viewer through the evocative power of its history and therefore wins by KO after an unequal battle, but pretty exciting'. Dennis Harvey stated that the film was 'enjoyable if unmemorable, so long as it portrays the life of its titular figure' but turned 'heavy-handed, however, when dealing with his death' as the tragic tale is blunted by the stereotypical 'portrayal of sneering Nazi sadism'. Jordan Mintzer stated that 'while many filmmakers would find tragedy in the simple fact that Perez wound up in a death camp, the director piles on the schmaltz here in one ill-advised scene after another, leading to a gruesome, final brawl with a beefy German that turns the horrors of Auschwitz into a spectacle worthy of ''

Rocky IV ''Rocky IV'' is a 1985 American sports drama film written, directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to ''Rocky III'' (1982) and is the fourth installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Ca ...

. A different reviewer stated that the film contains 'an impressive story that in the hands of debutant Ouaniche has unfortunately turned into a half-hearted melodrama that is almost exclusively populated by uninteresting stereotypes'. Noémie Luciani stated that 'the too numerous, too clumsy dialogues tend to turn against the film'. In contrast, Yvonne Kozlovsky Golan stated that the film highlighted the 'WWII experience of North African Jewry' in a 'clear and understandable, emotionally and consciously accessible manner'.

Home media

In the United Kingdom, it was 2016's best-selling

foreign language film World cinema is a term in film theory that refers to films made outside of the American motion picture industry, particularly those in opposition to the aesthetics and values of commercial American cinema.Nagib, Lúcia. "Towards a positive de ...

on home video, above Hong Kong action film ''

Ip Man 3 ''Ip Man 3'' is a 2015 Hong Kong biographical martial arts film directed by Wilson Yip, produced by Raymond Wong and written by Edmond Wong with action choreography by Yuen Woo-ping. It is the third in the ''Ip Man'' film series based on the ...

'' in second place.

Awards and honors

; 2013 :;

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival ( pt, Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. A non-profit event, the festival is organized ...

. :: Nominated 'Best Feature Film' Category ; 2014 :; Santa Barbara International Film Festival :: Nominated 'Best International Feature' Category

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 2658428, Victor Young Perez 2013 films 2013 biographical drama films 2010s French-language films Films set in the 20th century French biographical drama films Films shot in Bulgaria French historical drama films 2010s historical drama films 2013 drama films 2010s French films