Fighter

Jan Wiener and Arnošt Lustig are Czech Jews. Both of them survived the Holocaust. They have been friends for years and play chess together. The director Amir Bar-Lev takes them on a journey. They travel through the places in Europe where their past happened. They go to Terezin as well. Arnošt was held there for five years. Jan’s mother was killed there. Along the road they talk, they joke and they argue. As what they are describing grows heavier, the tone changes. The two of them do not remember the past the same way. Jan says it was his anger that kept him alive. This time that anger turns on his friend. The quarrel grows until they swear never to speak again. The film crew is caught inside it. Jan Wiener and Arnošt Lustig speak in the ninety one minute documentary. It is an American production Amir Bar-Lev finished in 2000.