Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Body Team 12" is a 13-minute documentary short film from 2015 that brought writer and director David Darg his first Oscar nomination. And even if it lost to a longer film about women's rights in Pakistan, I am glad this one exists and it is maybe my winner from the nominees. It shows us the work of those in Liberia in charge of collecting dead bodies of people who died from Ebola and if these helpers didn't exist, then the country (Liberia in this case) would never even have a chance to become Ebola free. We find out some general stuff about their work, like their clothes, but also about the biggest problems they have, namely convincing the relatives that they can take the bodies away because it means they have no idea where the corpses of their loved ones are taken.You read so often about new diseases and hundreds of people dying from them, but this film, as short as it may be, actually gives these words and figures a face. I think everything here was done right. The choice to let one helper narrate the story was a wise one because nobody is closer to the contents of this movie. Focus is very good. We don't need to know where they are taking the bodies, we find out about their work and that's it. At slightly over 10 minutes, the film reaches depth and relevance on a level that most 90-minute documentaries can only dream of. In short: This film is a triumph and I am glad it got the Oscar nomination. Also a special thumbs-up to Darg and his crew for risking their own health in making this little film. I highly recommend checking it out. Close to a must-see as this is among 2015's very best, short or not short.

Lee Eisenberg David Darg's "Body Team 12" focuses on the Red Cross workers of Liberia during the Ebola outbreak. The story gets told by Garmai Sumo, a woman who worked as a nurse during the outbreak. Through the documentary, people are forced to bury their loved ones of all ages. Even amid this horror, people do what they can to continue with their lives.I doubt that people unaffected by the Ebola virus can truly know what it was like. This documentary, nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject at the Academy Awards, is probably the closest that the rest of the world will come to it. The main thing to note is that the people who collected the dead bodies performed an invaluable service just as much as any medical professional who tended to people. I recommend the documentary.

Dave McClain If you like true stories told very well, but briefly, and you'd like to get a leg up in an Oscar pool, then this review is for you! In my continuing effort to see as many Oscar nominees as possible, I took advantage of the opportunity to see the shorts.TV theatrical presentation "Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016: Documentary" (NR, 3:00 – with 10 min. intermission). Here's a brief, spoiler-free summary and evaluation of one of those five films... "Body Team 12" (13 min.) – This film follows one group of Red Cross Workers whose job it was to collect bodies of the victims of the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in Liberia. We see the daily task through the eyes of the team's only female member and hear her discuss the importance and challenges of her task. This documentary short is an eye-opening and personal look at a huge news story. It spares us the most gruesome visuals of the team's work, but also fails to go deeply into the underlying story. "B+"The other four films in the shorts.TV theatrical presentation "Oscar Nominated Short Films 2016: Documentary" are… "Chau, beyond the Lines" "Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah" "A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness" "Last Day of Freedom" We have posted our articles about each of those other films on their respective pages on this website.

MartinHafer This is the shortest of the Oscar-nominated documentaries and was shown first at this year's special showing of the five nominees. The film is about folks who work for the Red Cross in Liberia and their job is to clean up the dead bodies from Ebola and then incinerate them. You see a few corpses in the short but, thank God, the footage is actually rather tame and the story of these courageous people inspiring...but depressing beyond believe. After all, what is more depressing than Ebola?! Well made and not as depressing and awful as it could have been. I am glad these wonderful people and their work are being celebrated...but when the special showing starts off with an Ebola film, you know it's going to be a long day! Tough to watch and not for kids or the easily disturbed.UPDATE: "A Girl in the River" took the Oscar for Best Documentary Short.