The Assault

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Audience Member The Assault won the 1986 Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, which fulfilled some of the dreams of Menahem Golam and Yoram Globus, but they only distributed the film instead of producing it. An adaption of The Assault by Harry Mulisch, it's a story about the end of World War II and the evening that a Nazi collaborator is shot dead on his bicycle. He falls in front of a house, but the family there moves it to the Steenwijk house. The Nazis assume they are the killers, so they kill Anton's (Marc van Uchelen as a child, Derek de Lint as an adult) parents and brother in front of him. Over the rest of his life, he comes to grips with what happened that night. His memories are filled in and he tries to get past the horror that he's lived through, even as he becomes a successful doctor. This movie — and the book — were inspired by a real event. Fake Krist, a Dutch police officer and national-socialist who helped the Nazis hunt Jews and resistance fighters was killed in 1944 and in retaliation, Nazi forces executed ten inmates and torched four houses. The way that the man is shot on his bike by a man and a woman was taken from the death of W. M. Ragut, which inspired The Girl with the Red Hair. Director Fons Rademakers also made Because of the Cats and Lifespan, one of the first mainstream movies to show shibari bondage. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member A movie about how one traumatic event can haunt a person for the rest of their life. The titular assault takes place at the beginning of the story, when the main character is but a young boy. The rest of the movie deals with the consequences, as he slowly comes to grip with the details over the course of many decades. While there is some mystery to it, the main attraction is definitely the emotional journey. The scars of that fateful night might be invisible most of the time, but they can surface again in an instant when a character from the past suddenly appears, or sometimes for seemingly no reason at all. To overcome our past we must first understand it. A well made film in every aspect, with some strong performances allround. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member underrated, good acting for a Dutch movie Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review david l The Assault definitely has its moving moments, it's well made, acted and ambitious, but ultimately overly ambitious for its own sake, way too rushed at times, but also sometimes prolonged with an overlong runtime. It needed better characterization and its structure is problematic. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member One of the best Dutch World War II films. A traumatic experience in the final months of the year emerges through the years of Anton Steenwijk's life. Winner of the Oscar for best foreign film. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Great Dutch film based on a novel by Dutch writer Harry Mulisch. We got to learn Anton Steenwijk, a boy who lives in occupied Holland. When a German Nazi is killed, his neighbours drags the body in front of Anton's house. Because of this, Anton got 'arrested' and taken away. His parents and brother are getting killed. What follows is the rest of Anton's life. With flashforwards and flashbacks we get to learn the real reason of all the things that happened that night when his family was killed. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Assault

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