Ekaterina P
"Aristocracy belongs to the past."
Out of all the lines, this one stood out to me the most with its glaring irony. History will forever repeat itself.
The eternally charismatic Rutger Hauer stars in this WWII epic by Paul Verhooven, playing his role as Erik Lanshof with youthful charm and vigour. And for me, that was one of the few true redeeming qualities about this film. Not to say that it's a bad film - more that it is just simply unremarkable. I wanted to get engrossed in it, but it was never able to pull me in fully.
The soundtrack was undoubtedly just lovely. The German crooners of the 1930s are a different breed of haunting nostalgia, and Rogier Van Otterloo's score is also quite impressive and lovely to the ear, even if a bit war-generic at times. In particular the track "Ester" is evoking the essense of what film scores are, bringing the movie back to what it's supposed to be, and "Englandvaarders Hebben Een Streepje Voor" is almost comically similar to the ever-famous "Jaws" theme, which would come out a year later - curious indeed!
Veerhoven's special effects for the horrors of war and torture are reminiscent of his other, later works, such as the ketchup-like horrific blood splatter and other more cerebral terrors for our imagination. Both explicit and implicit, the effects do not function completely as a suspension of disbelief but nevertheless, they do still turn your stomach and at their worst, hit you over the head with the violence.
The movie is undoubtedly important in the tapestry of cinema history, but will probably never be the first WWII adventurous tale that would jump to mind when the mood for a war movie strikes.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
10/01/23
Full Review
William L
One of the films that put Paul Verhoeven on the international cinematic map and a perennial favorite in its native Netherlands, Soldier of Orange takes advantage of a compelling design - a group of friends drifting in different directions, a war creeping into a country far from the front, and clandestine rebellion. There are immediately evident similarities to Verhoeven's later WWII film Black Book, particularly in toeing the line between collaborator and resistance fighter, the thriller elements, and the narrative swings. In each film, it feels like the script is driving towards a dark place only to pull up short and move on before asking particularly subversive questions; in Soldier of Orange, we go from Nazi officials using finesse and cunning to sway opinion in their favor and a protagonist who must compromise rather than run afoul of the same fate as his morally unbending friends, before slipping back into traditional action-thriller territory, treating Hauer's Erik Lanshof as a mix of James Bond and Steve McQueen, jumping from street fighter to impeccably dressed spy to RAF flyboy (the latter almost an afterthought).
What Soldier of Orange ends up feeling like is a missed opportunity; it establishes a group friends with the intent to highlight stark differences in character development, but never delivers. With its diverse cultures, relatively incremental invasion, and range of responses to Nazi influence, the setting feels ripe for difficult choices and tension. However, instead of rationalizations and painful self-reflection, the characters are relatively predictable: Lanshof and Krabbé's Guus are hotblooded Dutch freedom fighters, Rooymans' Jan is a strong Jewish man who stands for the morally upright and is brought down by cruelty, and Habbema's Robby technically turns traitor, but only when his fiance is threatened. There was a hint of complexity in de Lint's Alex, who joins the SS, but he makes too few appearances to really even factor into the story. By the end of the film, everything is awfully ... alright, given the heavy material that there was to work with, with subplots almost hastily tied up as the editing team realized that they were already pushing two and a half hours. It's a film with its heart in the right place and a lot of potential, but it's far from thought-provoking.
There is also a scene in which a character is tortured via enema, first time for everything, I guess. (3/5)
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
10/25/21
Full Review
david l
Soldier of Orange is a perfectly solid period piece that is never really special at any time. The main acting performances are great and so are the characters, the movie is handsomely crafted and it's thrilling at times, but it's lacking in terms of sophistication and originality. It's also too long and not that well paced.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
Audience Member
It is a masterpiece co-directed by the main character himself. It takes you through an era where without warning an entire country is occupied by night. No internet, no mobiles and no drones. Close to Germany the resistance in a small country was extremely dangerous, taken in account the amount of resistance died in camps or who were shot all over the country. Dozens of pilots were helped to escape to the UK, and numerous Jews survived thanks to the bravery of a few. The film takes you to the daily life and struggles and decisions of the 30's. A Dutch top cast including Hauer, Krabbe, and many others. That's why Verhoeven is Verhoeven.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
02/03/23
Full Review
s r
1001 movies to see before you die. This one had some entertainment for its unique Dutch perspective on WW2, but was a little off in how it handled things for shock value. It was on Internet Archive.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
nicholas g
Most of the movie is set during World War 2 when Germany invaded Holland. While this movie is historically interesting it has too many characters and thus feels disjointed.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
Full Review
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