User reviews

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."

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.

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!

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.

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.

The actors were all top. The little boy was very nice and played his role perfectly. The filming locations in the concentration camp are well chosen and I felt to be in with the prisoners. What a nightmare. Unbelievable what all these innocent people had to suffer. God stay with them. The film was accompanied by real film documentation from the US invasion until the SS camp Buchenwald. This was a great work from all the crew. Congratulations. Watch it. 7/10

Completely riveting from the very beginning, I've never felt so emotionally invested in a film. Every aspect of this was phenomenal, the cast, acting, plot, cinematography and all around production 10/10.

I've always had an interest in WWII, I've watched the movies and documentaries and read all the books I could find but nothing has ever brought it to life and made it real like this movie.

Up until now Shindler's list has been one of the best must see movies of all time. Naked Among Wolves is not only comparable to Shindler's List but easily a much better film. No movie before this comes close to the realism and horror of the holocaust like this, and I doubt any will after either.

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.

This movie is a good remake of the old one with still holding the details. The realism was just phenomal with good storyline.

It is a great movie. The movie gives a good picture of what really happend. The movie is also exciting.

I recommend you this movie for sure!

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...

People who can see this docudrama without feeling any pain, compassion or empathy for the victims locked in the Buchenwald Camp, or disgrace on behalf of or anger against the psychopaths and brainwashed men who tortured and butchered them, are either psychopaths and brainwashed themselves, or they simply haven't seen any film like Naked Among Wolves, or any documentary about the concentration- or extermination camps of Nazi Germany. For someone who are able to say this wasn't a very good film, I recommend to get much deeper into the subject.

YouTube is full of documentaries on the subject, also from when the highest commanding officer of the US Army, General Eisenhower, gave orders to force the population of the nearby town of Weimar to visit the camp and witness the horrible deeds of the Nazi regime. Perhaps people who are not able to realize reality, even still after seeing this brilliant film, should pay Auschwitz a visit. We who are able to experience this horrific moment in history only through this masterpiece are lucky, because this is as close to reality as it gets.

Everything about this movie was great. The acting was superb, the cinematography was stark but beautiful, the music enhances the mood, and it was well directed with an amazing production quality.

To elaborate on some of the other reviews I saw from this title, I too was also more emotionally captivated than usual with this movie. Most movies don't disturb me but this film immerses you in the fear and absolute horror Holocaust victims faced. This film evokes emotion not just by showing the depravity but also the tender love and friendship the main characters share. They do everything for each other. Any emotion they feel is beautifully juxtaposed on the audience.

Naked Among Wolves also has a well-crafted plot and story, the acting is realistic and not overdone, and it was visually stunning with great cinematography. All of these amazingly done features of this movie set the mood and provides a glimpse into the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Watch this movie.

The tv movie that doesn't feel like its made for TV, you can see the efforts while making this feel it is a cinematic masterpiece for everyone to enjoy, a person can learn a lot or have an idea on what is going on unto the German Jewish camps back in world war 2, the movie is so emotional in a good way the feelings is so real that you can understand the way they projected the characters.

The movie has a lot of symbolism like the child in the movie symbolizes hope that even thou they are suppressed back then they still have hope for the future generation.

The movie is actually really great recommend for everyone to watch so you can feel the emotions that i felt watching this film.

How do you portray something accurately on film, so awful, that should you succeed, it would be unwatchable?

Naked Among Wolves is a remarkably powerful story, which nestles close to that line, without ever crossing it.

It's not however, the horror that remains in the mind as the film concludes, but the fate of the individuals portrayed, for which you care enormously. A reminder the horrors of war and genocide happen to individuals, not to numbers.

Like Schindler's List, it's a story of the Holocaust, but also of the other victims of Nazi persecution.

Unlike Schindler's List, this isn't a story just about heroism vs evil, but of the choices ordinary people have to make in extra-ordinary circumstances, simply to survive. It's easy to be noble from a distance. Not so easy when it's your life, and those you love, or that of strangers, even against a common enemy.

Is it better than Schindler's List, against which it's bound to be compared?

I think it is. I feels more genuine, almost like a fly-on-the-wall account without actors, such is the convincing portrayal of individual suffering, and of the last vestiges of hope, without which, death is certain.

Naked Among Wolves deserves a higher profile and wider distribution, even 4 years after it's release.

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.