Naked Among Wolves

Is not bad, but not a masterpiece. It's good that was made by germans. Hollywood would made it worst. Tells a truth in the end. Not all the germans were nazis and not all the nazis were bad. There are always good people ready to sacrifice themselves surrounded by wolves.

War drama. We are in World War II and one of the many Nazi concentration camps. Everything indicates that Axis forces are losing against the Allies and the captured Jews hope to be freed soon. But they know SS can execute everyone in the camp before the allied forces arrive. So they've saved some weapons to fight back. But one of the new prisoners has the orphaned 3-year-old boy of a lost friend. Everyone there knows that if they tell the SS, the child will die. But as long as they hide it, they're in danger of both themselves and the counterattack they're preparing. Although it is a hypothetical story it realistically shows the events of that time. Also this film has real documentary of video and broadcast of that time. Serious film and with very good and convincing actors, while demonstrating the messages of that period. The lives of those who did not belong to the Nazis had absolutely no value. Everyday life in the concentration camp in the film is only a minimal sample of the events of the time. Overall excellent work, one of the very good films of the genre. It is proposed to everyone and especially to those who question the true history...

Nackt Unter Wölfen (or Naked Among Wolves) is based on a true story but it's just based and that means it is not the whole truth about what really happened. I can't help having the feeling that in Buchenwald Camp life was much worse than they made it out to be. Not that it looks like a cozy camp but I have serious doubts about the priveleges some prisoners had. I read from another reviewer that the images were hard to watch, while I thought they were not hard enough to show what really happened. The acting isn't bad though, but I just have problems with the authencity of the life at Buchenwald Camp. The movie could have been much better, but that's my opinion.

The film is based on a novelization of the true story of a boy who was brought to Buchenwald with his father (not a stranger as depicted in the film) near the end of the war, while the mother and sister were killed in Auschwitz. The novel was written by a man who himself was a prisoner at Buchenwald for eight years, which lends credibility to the scene he paints. Nevertheless, some aspects of the situation in the camp and some dramatic events in the story were implausible. For me this undercut the grim realism and emotional impact of the film. It turns out that the actual story is both more tragic and morally ambiguous (search "buchenwald boy guardian" to learn more), whereas the film rather simplistically aims to depict "the best and worst of humanity."

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!