Life for Life: Maximilian Kolbe

Amazing movie - not only for its subject matter, not even just for the nearly flawless performance of its actors, but also for the genius of its director in making a movie in which its chief subject is seen only through the eyes of others, and even then often from quite some distance.The movie inspired me to learn more about the life and death of Saint Maxmilian Kolbe. It was interesting to find out how much we actually did not know about the precise circumstances surrounding his heroic act of self sacrifice. For one thing, the main character in this move is Jan, the supposed escapee from Auschwitz, whose escape prompted the camp commandant to cruelly execute 10 prisoners taken at random by starvation and thirst. But the records are not at all clear about the details of the (alleged) escape. In fact to this day, we do not know for certain the identity of this escapee, or even whether he existed at all. Some accounts say there were 2 (or even 3) prisoners who managed to get away; others say that no one did - that one unfortunate prisoner had fallen into a latrine and drowned, his body not being found until long after the 10 hostages had been murdered. But in the end, that does not matter. Director Krzysztof Zanussi's decision to allow the viewer to learn about the remarkable life of Kolbe through the eyes of a (possibly fictional) person indirectly responsible for his death was perfection. No mere biopic here, with a woodenly chronological portrayal of events. Instead Saint Kolbe's life story is slowly revealed to us piece by piece as Jan struggles to learn just who died (even if only indirectly) due to his own actions. My favorite scene? Near the end, as an atheist, Polish Communist Party bureaucrat years later refuses to sully the name of the saint, even when his career is threatened by the party bosses.I do agree with film critic Steve Greydanus that the movie has but a single flaw - the scene where deputy camp commandant, SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, explains to a fellow officer why he allowed Kolbe to substitute himself for the other prisoner as one of those selected to die. Totally gratuitous error. But the scene is less than a minute long, and is but a minor blemish on an otherwise nearly perfect movie.I will certainly be watching this movie again, and recommending it to others.

"Life for Life" is a dark movie that highlights Father Maximilian Kolbe work to ease suffering of fellow prisoners at the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. And finally his offer (accepted) to take the place of a condemned man who was a husband and father. Acting and cinematography was very good. We see Maximilian's heroic sacrifice: "Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). For me there was no spiritually uplifting feeling at the end of the movie; only the intellectual acknowledgement that good was done in the midst of the seeming endless blackness of the Nazi holocaust machine. There are English and Spanish subtitles available for this Polish language film.

An excellent tribute to an incredible man.It is a shame that nowdays people only spend more time thinking about their problems than to help their fellow people.If all of mankind were like father Kolbe the world would be a far nicer place to live in.To be able to do what he did in the face of advercity and with his unshakable faith in god,he will always be remembered for who he was and his sacrifice for a fellow man,unlike the germans who will always be remembered for their atrocities and war crimes. Father Kolbe deserves his saint hood,and the reconition that goes with it.I would recommend this tribute to be watched. Very well filmed and produced.

The futility and deplorable conditions of the Nazi death camps were horror.I become mindful of Hannah Arendt’s coverage of the Nuremberg Trials of infamous Nazis. Amazing holiness of Kobe even through his torture and murder.

If you are a Marian Catholic, you will love this film, especially if you are a history nut of World War II. Saint Kolbe is now one of my favorite Saints and definitely someone to aspire to emulate.

The story was very tragic, depressing but it was a story of courage and a lot of faith on the part of the saint. I've read his story but this movie focused on one event of his good deed in the concentration camp. Details on the life of St Maximillian shows his devotion to the blessed Mother his love for the prisoners in the camp, the way he cared for them even until death. The courage he has given to many through his strong faith in God and his love for the Blessed Mother and his obedience and dedication to his duties as a Catholic priest. It would help the audience to read his life story before watching the movie to give more appreciation and understanding on who he really is.

ATTENTION WYD folks... If you purchased this DVD and it doesn't play, reach out to Ignatius Press, the company who produced this movie. I purchased Ocean of Mercy, Life for Life, and Faustina in preparation for my pilgrimage to Krakow in July, and found that all 3 DVD's wouldn't play.I tested the DVD's on 2 laptop computers and a media DVD player with the same results. Lets face it, mass producing a CD or DVD will sometimes result in a bad copy or even batch. I've experienced this before and since all 3 DVD's came from the same manufacturer, the risk of receiving 3 more unplayable movies (from Amazon) was pretty high (after all, is it a bad batch of DVD's or are all of my players truly defective).After speaking to Gene with Ignatius customer support, He indicated that a very small percentage of movies occasionally will not work on a customers player for various reasons. That said, he contacted their manufacturer to insure that I receive copies that do work.NOTE: I've rated this DVD as a "3 star" not for content, but because the DVD doesn't work as expected. That can certainly change depending on the outcome from Ignatius Press. With WYD coming fast, I wanted to let others know, should they be affected as I was. Not a huge deal, but If you will show this with friends, make sure you test your movie first!Look for my update in the future!