L'assaut

'De Aanslag' is an epic drama taking place in the final days of German occupation of the Netherlands in 1945.

A Nazi collaborator, Ploeg, was shot dead in Haarlem, and the corpse dragged to the front of a neighbouring house. When the Nazis arrived they assumed that the people in that house were responsible, arrested the occupants and set the house alight. Several other people were also rounded up and all executed. The exception is Anton, the 12 year old son of the family who lived in the house, who was taken to the military HQ and later sent to his uncle in Amsterdam.

These traumatic events had a serious psychological impact on Anton, particularly in his later life. Like a slow puzzle, the pieces began fitting together. As an adult Anton discovered who killed the collaborator, and who dragged the body to the front of their house, events that had such devastating effects.

It is an excellent film, but in my view a little too long. It loses momentum halfway through, but fortunately picks up again towards the end. Acting, cinematography and music score are top-notch. It brings a powerful anti-war message, and also explores the power of public mass protest to change the social order. I still score it a very good 8/10.

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.

My family is from Haarlem and I feel very close to the places, scenes, characters and the atmosphere that the movie generates. The fact that there are only a view productions regarding the Dutch resistance is very sad to me as the Dutch resistance was on of the best organized during the German occupation. However the man that was shot dead outside Anton Steenwijk's house was an NSB participant. He belonged to the Dutch Nazi Party. As previously stated, by some people in this thread, he was not a German Nazi but a Dutch collaborator. A lot of my family were in the resistance during the Nazi occupation. Some of them were shut by the Germans, in the dunes near Bloemendaal a/Zee, the site of the "Ere Begraaf Plaats" where Anton takes his daughter to find Truus Koster's grave, in the latter end of the movie. When I was young we often spend time there, to visit friends and family that were executed during those troublesome years. I dearly love this movie and would recommend it to anyone.

I have seen this movies so many times that the subtitling has become irrelevant. Smarty movie with worldwide appeal. A growing up MD is subconciously living a life that has been dramatically changed by an incident during the WWII. such powerful characters. I walk out the movuie stunned at the way the movie works for me. go and see it for yourself

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.