A harrowing film set during World War 2 is hailed as a “masterpiece”, with one viewer calling it one of the “best movies ever made”. Naked Among Wolves (2015) tells the story of a group of prisoners in Buchenwald concentration camp who risk their lives to hide and protect an orphaned Polish Jewish boy from their Nazi captors.
The events take place in the latter stages of the war in 1944 and 1945, in the lead up to the liberation of various camps by Allied forces. The film, directed by Philipp Kadelbach, was based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Bruno Apitz.
Apitz was a German communist who spent eight years imprisoned at the camp as a “political inmate”.
The book, which was highly acclaimed in Germany, is based on the true story of a boy who survived the camp.
An East German film adaptation of the novel was released in 1963 directed by Frank Beyer.
One reviewer on IMDb gave the 2015 film a 10 out of 10 rating, saying: “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,” they wrote.
Another wrote: “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,” they added.
One audience reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes gave the film five stars, calling it: “One of the best movies ever made.”
The film has a 90% rating on the platform’s Popcornometer (the percentage of users who rated it 3.5 stars out of five or higher).
Naked Among Wolves is streaming now on Amazon Prime now.