The Boxer and Death

"Boxer a smrt" is one of the greatest boxing movies ever made. It kind of reflects the old boxing saw that the "good big man will always beat the good small man." We can predict from the opening credits that the concentration camp commander is not nearly as good of a boxer as the prisoner. Yet, it is very interesting to watch the spectacle of the two men with dramatically different stations in the concentration camp meeting and then taking up the gloves against each other.

Kopinek (played by Stefan Kvietik) initially cannot last a round. Eventually he looks pretty damn good on his feet. The wonder of this film is that Kraft (i.e., Manfred Krug), in the interest of "sport", allows Kopinek to get stronger and to actually fight back. However, Kraft is a cold-blooded killer and we never know how far Kopinek can go until the film's end.