The Relief of Belsen

The true filmed history of the liberation of the German concentration camp Bergen-Belsen in 1945, dramatized with good acting. We follow the last 23 days of the World War II, and the struggle to keep people alive from the horrid of the German empire.

Even after the liberation of the camp containing tens of thousands of prisoners in the two twin camps, the people are dying from famine and typhus, and shrunken inner organs after years in starvation.

Gripping and compelling, but it takes time before the story really takes a hold on you. It might be the lack of budget, making this some kind of a part time documentary.

The use of hand held cameras adds to the reality, though it's obvious that the film crew has tried to make the best out of their budget, they rather try to show the reaction and the faces of the nurses and soldiers, than the misery.

The scenes of misery is real footage and filming made in 1945, quite good blended in with a history telling voice. This form demands us to get into this way of storytelling, and succeeds after a while. Then you start feeling the despair and disbelief of efforts not working, until it suddenly does, while looking worse than ever.

Well done on an obviously too small budget. A compelling storytelling of some of the worst episodes in human history.

Life and reality seems on a different planet, and is told so when a military chief gives the message while looking in at the sick-beds. "By the way. Apparently, they say the war is over!"

This is a superb movie which does not seem to have been properly recognised. The eightieth anniversary of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp has been recently commemorated, but there is a more important story to tell which is described in this movie - the relief efforts for the prisoners found there. It is hard to find suitable words to describe the challenges faced by the British Army medical (and other) personnel tasked with managing the camp, who had to deal with tens of thousands of starving and sick people. People so starved that their systems could not cope with 'normal' food, and with typhus and other diseases raging through the camps.

The story is told with care. It is well-scripted, well-acted and well-filmed, the film interspersed with archive footage showing the true state of the camps: emaciated prisoners, corpses lying around everywhere. The medics, who had been conscripted and trained to support frontline troops found themselves trying to pick up what the bestial Germans had left behind. This is an emotional film and it presents the humanity of those involved as they fought a new war - to save the lives of as many of the inmates as they possibly could. It is incredibly well done.

Very highly recommended.

Based on true facts around the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, this movie portrays events about the attempts to save the remaining inmate population of a hunger death.

A combination of scripted movie and archival material, this movie will give you an idea of the human suffering and even chaos surrounding the organization of a relief plan. I personally was shocked to see that it took 2 weeks - and over 11,000 deaths after liberation of the camp - to even come with a diet plan for the camp inmates. A diet plan that takes into account that people suffering from starvation are not able to cope with a normal diet. One would have expected that the allied troops would have been better prepared for the situation where they liberated such camps. Fact is that army command was aware of the existence on these camps prior to the invasion.

Most important is that this movie shows what the german leadership, the SS and many other people were able to do to let other people suffer a painful death. It is in that respect a showcase for how evil humanity can be.

One other facts is that this movie also shows that the russians - whom liberated Auschwitz six weeks before the british liberated Bergen Belsen - were not sharing information. It shows very clearly that already then, the "allied troops" were not allied at all! The eastern and western fronts were operating each on their own, as if the "cold war" was already started.

It is very difficult - if not impossible - to rate a movie like this. I personally think that any person should be made aware of the atrocities and suffering that occured in concentration camps during WW2. I think this movie can play a role in creating awareness. Therefore this movie deserves a place in any serious list about WW2 movies. Overall, I give this movie a rating of 6.4/10.

I still hope that a director like Steven Spielberg - whom has a personal interest in depicting the events surrounding WW2 - will in the future make a movie or show which includes the events surrounding the WW2 concentration camps... His work on WW2 has always been excellent and in that respect also reach a wider audience. Because in all honestly, I must admit that "The Relief of Belsen" has not the rights ingredients to be able to catch a worldwide audience.

I recall my father telling me a long time ago about his experiences at Belsen. It had such a profound effect on him that he only ever spoke once about it and not even once to my two sisters. From his descriptions, the movie is an accurate representation of the events. The army team involved were true hero's who saved hundreds. This should be compulsory viewing for the schools curriculum as it demonstrates both the depravity of human beings to others and conversely, their humanity. Having visited the site in the 80's I recall the oppressive atmosphere felt in the region, and this was before I was aware of the dreadful events that had taken place there.

I remember when I was in hospital there was A 94-year-old gentleman who had served in the Second World War. I was very interested to know what He did during the conflict. He had served In North Africa, the Italian campaign including Many of the of the horrific battles of that campaign. He was also amongst the first troops to enter Belson concentration camp. As with most soldiers that fought in both world Wars, They are very reluctant to talk about what they went through. One thing I do remember was during the night he would wake up screaming. I said are you okay "He said sorry son I still have nightmares about Belsen". This more then anything I knew about concentration camps bought home the horrors of these camps. 70 years on he was still having nightmares about what he witnessed.

The relief of Belsen tells the story of the desperate attempts by the British medics to save as many lives as they could, at times it was a losing battle, such was the malnutrition and typhus that had spread through the camp.

The Doctors and medics who managed to save hundreds of lives with limited supplies are the unsung heroes of WW2 and this film is a fitting tribute to them, rather than the unbelievable cruelty of the Nazis.