The Relief of Belsen - 2007

Did I like it? Sad, but worth watching.

Will kids (under 13) like it? Those interested in the Holocaust, note their is some graphic footage.

Will teens like it? Maybe, depending on their personality.

Will adults like it? YES!

Starring: Tobias Menzies as Derrick Sington, Iain Glen as James Johnston

Length: 1 hour, 40 minutes

Year: 2007 (Made for TV movie)

The Relief of Belsen: Part 1 on YouTube

The Relief of Belsen is a docudrama featuring a movie, facts, and real footage of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. It's not always an easy watch and extremely violent, but it shows liberation didn't just end with the Americans and British storming the gates. It profiles Bergen-Belsen from April 15 to July 1945. The end is a Band-of-Brothers type thing, featuring the afterlives of the main characters.

RATING: R

SUGGESTED AGE RATING: 14+

PARENTAL CONTENT

SEXUAL CONTENT AND NUDITY

None. A few men flirt with the nurses and inmates. The comment "Woman's bodies are magical." comes up, and a man quickly agrees. (Although that wasn't the intention of the comment.) The corpses are naked, but the scenes are more horrific than anything.

VIOLENCE

This movie contains heart-wrenching facts of death rates, and REAL footage is used. (Being real, Band of Brothers "Why We Fight" is NOTHING) From the  bulldozers the British brought in, to the mass-graves. The scenes are absolutely disgusting. The guards who stayed back at the camp are sent back to the front lines. On their way out, they decided to bust the water supply.

 It is said 600 prisoners were dying on average daily. It is NOT a pretty sight but, unlike the PG-13 The Hunger Games, this is a true story. The SS are forced to bury the typhus-filled corpses with their bear hands. The inmates practiced cannibalism. There is a reference to Auschwitz and the gas chambers, a women tells two British officers how she was a dentist and her family was gassed. (not graphic)

PROFANITY

When you are faced with the task of dealing with 20,000 inmates with typhus, your first thought is probably a profanity. B*****d, d***, 'bloody', p***, maybe an a** or two, and lots of uses of s*** and f***. The Lord's name and Jesus' name are taken multiple times.

DRUGS AND ALCOHOL

Alcohol and cigarettes are present.

FURTHER RESEARCH

After Daybreak by Ben Shepherd is a fantastic book about the liberation of Bergen-Belsen.

On YouTube, there is a program called Heroes of WWII. The Episode is The Men Who Liberated Belsen.

Remembering Belsen by Ben Flanagan