Het bombardement

I have seen many dutch movies, really many... but this one... well, it really is the sour berry on top of a smashed pie. Take some good names (Jan Smit for the first time in an acting role) and a horrible historic event (the bombing of Rotterdam) and you have a winner? Hell no! The acting: horrible! The special effects? Even more horrible. OK, there were explosions, but not the size that will make a house tremble, looking at the size of the actual explosions. More like of someone who accidentally drops some cherry bombs...

And why for God's sake did they put the ACTUAL BOMBING at the END of the movie? It's called Het Bombardement (the bombing) for nothing. Look at 2012 for instance, they put the action in the MIDDLE of the movie, and the rest after that.

No, Het Bombardement is a abomination of a movie, and it didn't showed the drama of that horrible event. If you come across this movie in stores, leave it there. It's not worth your money.

This is a movie that should not have been made. The story doesn't have anything to do with the Bombardement of Rotterdam. It happens to be that period. One of the first shots in the movie is not Rotterdam but Dordrecht and simple to see.

Jan Smit is a singer. Het can't act. During the movie he stays the singer Jan Smit and never becomes his character. The childish story isn't his fault. I must admit I left before the end of the movie (like: when an egg is bad you don't have the eat it completely)

Gerard Cox is the best actor here and he only has minor part. The bombing is nothing compared to the opening of the German movie 'Der Untergang'; it doesn't scare you a bit.

i like Jan Smit the way he is as a guy and I'm sorry for him that he accepted this part in such a terrible movie.

The movie is well worth seeing. The story itself it quite elaborate, with a love story and action sequences synchronized with the short-lived war in the Netherlands in May 1940. Many facts about the war are well interwoven with the story-line and give some interesting historical background. The back-grounds of the two main characters are defined by their having to do something important in their lives which they do only out of altruism for a brother, and the love they are starting to experience is jeopardizing their former resolve. The main characters are quite believable and show real chemistry, the action stunts grip you, and the photography sublime. Roos van Erkel really shines. Many critics are far too easy and harsh. They try to frame it as a Titanic-me-too, but ever heard of the age-old story of Romeo and Juliett? Because Jan Smit is known for being a singer, that doesn't mean he can't act. I could go on. If you are willing to let the actors and the story move you, this is a moving experience for the whole family.

As a Brit, I found this very watchable and don't really identify with the negative comments. I welcomed this insight into the Rotterdammers experience of German invasion, enjoyed the storyline and the writing and thought the acting perfectly fine. It was a gentler take (e.g.12) which suits lockdown viewing fine.

Knowing the bombardment of Rotterdam is a brutal tragedy, in the beginning I was surprised by the light hearted teenage love story as the main part of the film. But as it progresses, so many casual moments and tiny things gradually make sense. The war is there, the huge casualties and lifetime loss is there, how do you deal with it? As the boy tells the girl to laugh instead of fear, and the girl later tells the boy to do boxing with waltz, I think that is the message how people could endure the war and achieve love. Some German characters here may be snobbish, but the war tells them what is truly valuable; Dutch people may be considered victims, but some Dutch characters show their speculative minds in the warfare. After all, love without boundaries, save those you love, live with those survived by your side. I think it's a good movie about love at wars.