Overview
Victor "Young" Perez , also known as Surviving Auschwitz in the United Kingdom, is a 2013 French biographical sports drama 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 as Perez, with Isabella Orsini and Bruce Payne in supporting roles.
Plot
Victor "Young" Perez tells the astonishing, harrowing and poignant story of a Tunisian Jewish boxer, who became the World Flyweight 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, 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 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 that left the camp on January 18, 1945.
Cast
Brahim Asloum as Victor 'Young' Perez
Isabella Orsini as Mireille Balin
Bruce Payne 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
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).