The Boxer and Death (1962)

Director: Peter Solan
Country: Czechoslovakia

We have seen many films about the Second World War such as Roman Polanski's "The Pianist", Samuel Fuller's "The Big Red One" or "The Great Escape" starring Steve McQueen, films that portrayed a variety of themes such as The D-Day, The Holocaust or The Battle of Berlin, but few people have seen this Czechoslovakian film, which is one of best films ever made about this topic. 

A German officer obssesed with boxing finds a contender in a concentration camp, which ignites his hunger for competition, two bodies and two minds against each other, no matter if one is black and the other is white, no matter if one is Jewish and the other is Catholic, the best will win. 

The prisoner suddenly becomes a kind of star inside the concentration camp and he got the chance to train and to take meals to become a decent contender and sparring. 

Also, he has the opportunity to leave the camp during training, which is beautiful because we can see a peaceful enviroment and the mother nature in a quiet atmosphere contrasting with the horrors of war and the atrocities taking place in the concentration camps (one as the viewer can not stop thinking about the historical context of the film which is a great accomplishment of the director who invites you to connect with the characters without explanations, flashbacks or sentimental bullshit, we also can infer that not every soldier in the Nazi Germany was a cold-blooded murderer) 

In addition, and just like in films such as "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly", the viewer can realize about the stupidity of war and violence and some questions are brought in to us: is he gonna make it or is he gonna be humiliated and then killed by the Nazis? 

Minimalistically but masterfully directed and photographed this is an amazing underrated gem which deserves more attention and recognition.