Have any interest at all in seeing a Second World War movie told solely from the eyes of the Dutch? Not really? Well then you’ll be robbing yourself of an excellent war film. Directed by a young Paul Verhoeven (who would eventually go on to worldwide popularity directing such features as Total Recall, Robocop, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers) and featuring a star turn by an equally youthful Rutger Hauer, this is a movie that never once drags despite a more than ample running time.
As the movie opens, we are introduced to a handful of Dutch students who are about to begin their university studies. But the encroaching war continually raises its nasty head and slowly but surely German troops begin “relocating” to the peaceful Holland countryside. While many of the citizens choose to look past these soldiers, a group of young friends begins to form an underground resistance while others yearn to join the Nazi party.
Soldier of Orange is based on the memoir of Dutch war hero Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, and the movie can be divided into two distinct sections. The first half of the movie shows how each of the friends finds his place in the upcoming war. Some choose to smuggle themselves out of Holland to find alliances in England, while others are brave enough to stay behind and serve as liaison between the Dutch resistance and British forces. Erik manages to cover his own tracks and get on a ship to England and this is where we switch over to the “second story”.
Erik and his childhood friend Gus manage to make names for themselves acting as spies for the British government and are asked to go back into Holland to extract several more “freedom fighters”. Things get decidedly more tragic from there. Essentially, the movie focuses on Erik and his rise from aimless young student to the right hand man of Queen Wilhelmina, leader of the Dutch.
The more recent Verhoeven trademarks of satirical social commentary and graphic violence are notably absent throughout Soldier of Orange. Instead, the director does a masterful job of depicting true-life events and offering them with a minimum of fanfare and theatrics. Though well over two hours long, there aren’t many slow spots here and you’ll find yourself lost in the subtitles, enthralled by this fascinating war story – one that’s well presented and a damn fine movie overall.
