A very good movie

Back then, before this movie was released, there was a huge buzz in the Netherlands. Indeed, not only Paul Verhoeven was finally releasing a new director effort after 6 long years but he was also back in his homeland more than 20 years after ‘De vierde man’, his last Dutch feature. Anyway, for Verhoeven, it was a successful comeback and, in the Netherlands, it was indeed a huge success but I noticed that Dutch people tend to give this movie slightly too much credit. Still, I have to admit that it was a really solid classic WWII resistance tale. For Carice van Houten, it was a huge breakthrough and even though her international career never took off , she is still the most famous Dutch actress at work nowadays and she gave here a really strong performance. However, in spite of its rather strong material, the story didn’t always work. For example, the way the main character finally ended up with a resistance group was just rather convoluted and poorly put together. For example, why wasn’t Rachel hiding with her family? Did they get separated? Then, they take the time to introduce a cute sailor but since the guy was killed within 10 mins, you wonder why they didn’t just skip it right away. And, yet, it remains a strong story and Van Houten was just quite fascinating to behold.  To conclude, in spite of its flaws, the story was definitely entertaining and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Paul Verhoeven’s work.