Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows RT App News Showtimes

What They Found

Play trailer Poster for What They Found 2025 36m Documentary History Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
Tomatometer 3 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
Directed by Sam Mendes, this is the story of two soldier-cameramen, Sgt. Mike Lewis and Sgt. Bill Lawrie, who witnessed the liberation of Belsen during the closing days of World War II. By immersing audiences in their eyewitness accounts through the footage they shot, married with audio interviews (recorded by the Imperial War Museum in the 1980s) describing their experiences in detail, the film becomes an intimate and personal record of two ordinary men’s defining experience of the war and, through them, of the profound trauma and tragedy of the Holocaust.

Critics Reviews

View More
Dan Einav Financial Times May 15
5/5
While the footage speaks for itself, the commentary provided by Lewis and Lawrie provides a rare insight into what it felt like to see the unimaginable first-hand. Go to Full Review Jack Seale Guardian Apr 15
4/5
What They Found forces us to glimpse the clearest and most terrible truth. Go to Full Review Barbara Ellen Observer (UK) Apr 15
4/5
Mendes, who has Jewish ancestry, keeps the film raw, stripped back, allowing the footage of the camp and witness testimonies to own every charged, terrible moment. Go to Full Review Read all reviews
What They Found

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All

Sam Mendes

Director

Gaby Aung

Producer

Simon Chinn

Executive Producer

Jonathan Chinn

Executive Producer

Pippa Harris

Executive Producer

Caro Howell

Executive Producer
View All

What They Found

View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Directed by Sam Mendes, this is the story of two soldier-cameramen, Sgt. Mike Lewis and Sgt. Bill Lawrie, who witnessed the liberation of Belsen during the closing days of World War II. By immersing audiences in their eyewitness accounts through the footage they shot, married with audio interviews (recorded by the Imperial War Museum in the 1980s) describing their experiences in detail, the film becomes an intimate and personal record of two ordinary men’s defining experience of the war and, through them, of the profound trauma and tragedy of the Holocaust.
Director
Sam Mendes
Producer
Gaby Aung
Production Co
Lightbox
Genre
Documentary, History
Original Language
English
Runtime
36m