The Relief of Belsen (TV 2007)

In early April 1945 a small British ambulance unit was diverted from frontline battle in northern Germany... See full synopsis »

Director:

Justin Hardy

Writers:

Peter Guinness, Justin Hardy

Stars:

Iain Glen, Nigel Lindsay, Jemma Redgrave

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Iain Glen	...	James Johnston
Nigel Lindsay	...	Mervyn Gonin
Jemma Redgrave	...	Jean McFarlane
Corin Redgrave	...	Glyn Hughes
Tobias Menzies	...	Derrick Sington
Oliver Ford Davies	...	Martin Lipscomb
Iddo Goldberg	...	Emmanuel Fisher
Paul Hilton	...	Leslie Hardman
Frog Stone	...	Hadassah Bimko
Simon Paisley Day	...	Major Stadler
Henry Pettigrew	...	Alexander Paton
Christopher Sloman	...	Cecil Warren
Vern Griffiths	...	Richard Dimbleby
Katrine Bach	...	Lotti Burns
Erich Redman	...	Hans Eckhart

Storyline

In early April 1945 a small British ambulance unit was diverted from frontline battle in northern Germany... See full synopsis »

---

Plot Keywords:

concentration camp | bergen belsen | nazi concentration camp | holocaust | shoah

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 October 2007 (UK)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hardy Pictures, Hardy and Sons, The Wellcome Trust

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Alexander Paton: In my hut no one died today, sir.

User Reviews

We can save peoples lives, by remembering them that they are human

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 take a hold of 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!"