Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

s3276169 This is different from many of the other films about the fate of those condemned to concentration camps during WWII. Its not because what happens is essentially different but because this film injects a "desperate variety of hope". That tiny glimmer of hope is a small boy the prisoners try to shield and save when they themselves, are divested of all protection, save their own courage.For the viewer that hope creates a thread of tension and emotion as you hold you breath hoping the boy and his would be saviours survive, whilst knowing the odds are hugely stacked against them.This is an excellent production and, as I found out later, its based on fact, with a degree of dramatic license taken. I think the decisions made around the adapted story work extremely well, adding to the sense of shared altruism, of people who decide to make one noble decision. 10/10 from me.

dlorahhunt-12765 I first heard about Buchenwald before I started kindergarten. My parents were talking in the living room late at night and they didn't realize I was in the hallway listening. My uncle was the Army photographer (in the Signal Corps) who accompanied the troops as they liberated Buchenwald. This film, for all of it's merits, seems like a whitewash. It didn't even scratch the surface of the horrors of Buchenwald. When the troops arrived there were human beings, still alive though just skin and bones, stacked like cordwood (i.e. layer upon layer of human beings, stacked in alternating directions). Not just one stack, there were many, many stacks lined up and prepared to be moved into the ovens. When he visited the home of the camp commander he photographed lamps with shades made from human skin, skin with tattoos. My father spoke of drums using human skin. There were other things. These images have polluted my mind from my youngest years. I barely knew what tattoos were...only because of Popeye the Sailor man, and when the drums were mentioned, I had the image of bongo drums because I heard these things in '61 or'62 and bongo drums were all the rage. I remember these things though I just heard them once. My uncle's photographs are in the Library of Congress. He never took another photograph in his life, never smiled, never visited the mountains, never visited the snow, and never spoke of what he had witnessed except once in 1961 or '62 in a special meeting with his father, his brothers, and his brother in law. The film is a good story, but the scenes of the camp and the prisoners seem like a Sunday picnic versus the reality. It felt more like history was being covered up than illuminated by this film.

bethjohnson-64960 This is a superb film. German version adds to the authenticity of the movie as it is a true story. Apparently this is a remake of the 1963 movie, based on a book/true story. There is excellent acting throughout. Subtitles are a no factor as they become commonplace after a few lines. I feel it was an accurate portrayal of the time period and cruelties of war(and atrocities of the SS) but with the guiding light of hope. The movie and the story stay with you. It was truly one of the best movies I've ever seen and I normally don't enjoy this type of movie or subject matter. I watched this on Netflix but would love to have the DVD to share.

rps-2 This is a superbly done film but don't watch it if you're already in a downer. Or you don't have access to a stiff drink. It is grim and graphic. The violence and horror are simply stated but not exploited. It also gets beyond the Holocaust, portraying the seldom documented horrors the Nazis inflicted on non Jewish political prisoners. Nobody knows what life in the camps was like unless they had lived through it. But this may come closer than most such pictures. Dark and unrelentingly morbid, it is still a worthwhile watch but not an easy one. You will finish watching by pondering how an educated, civilized nation like Germany let this happen and by asking yourself how you might have reacted to the many moral dilemmas posed in the story. Not a film to enjoy but certainly one to watch!