This film is certainly deserving of more viewers than the number rating it here on IMDb, and with only eleven reviews (as I write this), it's a story that merits a much wider audience. The thing that strikes is the incredible inhumanity on display in the way the Nazi concentration camp guards physically beat and indiscriminately kill prisoners on a mere whim. There's the mental aspect as well, demonstrated when an announcement is made that the prisoners will never leave the camp alive. It leaves little hope and all but the faintest will to survive from day to day. Amidst this setting, Tadeusz 'Teddy' Pietrzykowski (Piotr Glowacki) emerges as an unlikely hero to the prisoners of the newly opened Auschwitz Concentration Camp, one whose infamy grew throughout the Second World War. Recognized as a former championship caliber Polish athlete, Teddy is selected to fight against a handful of German prison guards, and almost always successful, manages to earn an allowance of bread and medicine for his fellow inmates. A side story involves Teddy's compassion for a young male prisoner he takes under his wing, only to end in tragedy under the brutal conditions of the camp. Any recommendation I could make to watch this movie has nothing to do with entertainment value, as the scenes and conditions depicted are too bleak. The value of pictures like this are instructional and inspirational, helping us recognize that the intolerable conditions shown have no place in human conduct and must be prevented from ever happening again. Though it's a difficult picture to watch, one comes away with an understanding of how an indomitable spirit can keep even the faintest glimmer of hope alive under the harshest conditions.

There was a sincere effort here to make a good Holocaust film, hurt by ham acting on the part of the actors playing the Nazis and the even more ham-handed dubbing with dull Western voices instead of the real voices and languages of the actors and the characters they played. Dubbing is just stupid and also offensive. If westerners can't bother to read subtitles, then don't watch the movie. Those of us who enjoy International films and series want the languages and cultures of these works, and don't want the bizarre effects of dubbing coming from their mouths: "Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films." -"Parasite" Director, Bong Joon-Ho whose film won the Academy Award-with sub-titles.