El asalto

The Dutch are not great at making movies but when they make a WW II movie it often is a little masterpiece. "De Aanslag" is a movie like this.

"De Aanslag" isn't necessarily about WW II but more about the effects of it on a persons life and why things happen the way they do and how little things can effect a persons life for ever. Most of the movie's story is set in the years after WW II and uses flashbacks of things that happened in WW II to make more things clear and to show things from a different perspective from different individuals that were involved in the incident were the movie is about. It becomes more and more clear what happened at the night that collaborator Ploeg was killed but the Dutch resistance and more importantly why things happened the way it happened. The story also shows a detailed view of the Netherlands and their citizens the years and decades after WW II and how it still affected many.

There are many great returning characters in the story and the acting is for especially Dutch standards pretty high. Derek de Lint who now is better know world wide for his role as Derek Rayne in "Poltergeist: The Legacy" is a great leading man that really carries the movie.

The cinematography from Theo van de Sande who later did the cinematography for the movie hit "Blade" is great and sets a nice mood. The directing by Fons Rademakers is done wonderfully and it never makes the movie hard to follow even though at times it gets a bit complicated.

Great Dutch Oscar winning drama with some memorable moments and a fantastic ending were everything comes together and gets clear.

8/10

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In January 1945, during the second world war, the Dutch resistance kills a collaborator in the street where the 12 year old Anton Steenwijk lives. The man was shot in front of his neighbors house, but is moved by them to the house of the family Steenwijk. Because of this, his father, mother and brother are killed by the Germans, and their house is set to fire. During his life, Anton meets several people that tell him more about what really happened on the night of the assault.

What really makes this a great film is how it covers so much of the 20th century, at least the major war events. Vietnam, Stalin, Hungary and more... this is not just a story about the Netherlands in World War II, but really a larger tale of Europe. The balance between the personal and the international is what makes it such a notable film.

I saw this movie in school for an asignment and I was suprised by the fact that this was a Dutch movie. This is one of those movies wich can stand the test of time. A involving story is told about Anton Steenwijk who we will follow through out this film. A must see film that tells the story of a typical dutch family in war time.

"The Assault", more than any other movie, shows that the Netherlands may have Europe's best output in terms of movies. In January, 1945, the Nazis are still occupying the Netherlands. One night, a Nazi guard is shot while on patrol. Immediately, the people in the house next to which he falls move him in front of the next house, where protagonist Anton Steenwijk lives. The Nazis kill Anton's parents and brother, and take Anton prisoner. In jail, he meets a woman, but can only see her mouth. She comforts him for a few minutes before they take her away.

After the war ends, Anton spends the rest of his life trying to come to terms with what happened that night, and every woman with whom he hooks up has the same sort of mouth as the woman in the jail cell. Then, at the end of the movie, while at an anti-nuclear march in Paris, he learns the full story of what happened that night.

"The Assault" is a movie that will truly blow you away. It will shake you, but it's also about hope. You have to see it to understand how great it is. I recommend it to everyone.

In the long run non-violence eventually overcomes violence. It is extremely difficult not to become an extremist. Being the center of the wheel requires great patience and understanding, as one is always tempted to take shortcuts in life via violence. A senseless, ill-planned act of sabotage in the Netherlands gets an entire innocent family killed. This is a prime example of how violence eventually falls down upon itself.

This film deservedly won the best foreign film of the year for 1986. The performances are first-rate, especially that of the child actor and the adult actor of the main character. This film is both a mystery and a tragedy at the same time; not an easy combination to put together for a director. The direction is impeccable. The screenplay is beautifully written, and in the final analysis, all of the events that take place after WW 2 just do not have the same significance and power as that horrible event. Truly a film classic.