FIGHTER follows two friends, Jan Wiener, to whom the title refers, and Arnost Lustig, a writer--both in their seventies, and both exiles from Communist Czechoslovakia now living in America--as they retrace Wiener's escape from Prague after the Nazi takeover in the 1930s. Wiener's trek took him via Yugoslavia and Italy to London, where he joined the British Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot. Upon returning to Prague after the war, he was falsely accused of being a spy by the Communist regime, and spent five years in a labor camp. Incorporating rare archival footage from Nazi and Communist propaganda films, the documentary focuses on the interaction between Wiener and Lustig as they retrace Wiener's steps and track down some of the individuals connected with his journey. Although they are linked by their similar personal histories surrounding the war, the two friends are eventually driven apart by their conflicting interpretations of the past and their fundamental philosophical differences. Director Amir Bar-Lev's unusual and vastly inquisitive documentary was an acclaimed hit at film festivals as well as in its theatrical release.
