"The assault" is a film which shows the interaction between "big history" and "small or family history".
Two years later "The unbearable lightness of being" (1988, Philip Kaufman) would use the same theme with respect to a love triangle situated during the Prague spring.
"The assault" is situated in Holland during the last winter of the Second World War. A Dutch traitor is killed by the resistance before the house of the family Steenwijk. As a retaliation the whole family Steenwijk is killed by the Germans except for their youngest son Anton (Derek de Lint). During most of the rest of his life Anton tries to find out what exactly happened in that night.
The film covers the years 1944 - 1981, that is almost forty years. In doing so the film shows how one drastic event can change an entire life. In order to explain the leaps in time a voice over is necessary. This voice over feels somewhat formal in an otherwise compelling movie.
Maybe the strongest point of the movie is that one event is highlighted from different perspectives. Not questioning the existence of a single truth, as in "Rashomon" (1950, Akira Kurosawa), because at the end of the film (but not a moment earlier) we know the truth.
Instead the film shows how one event can influence not one but multiple lives. Sure, the story of Anton Steenwijk and his family remains the main story, but apart from Anton we meet:
Fake Ploeg (Huub van der Lubbe), the son of the traitor, whose life after the war was very difficult because his father had been on the wrong side in the war.
Cor Takes (John Kraaijkamp Sr), the man who shot the traitor although he knew a possible retaliation would kill innocent people.
Karin Korteweg (Ina van der Molen), the woman who, together with her father, was the first to see the dead body of the shot Ploeg. They had to make a difficult decision.
"The assault" is an adaptation of a novel by the famous Dutch writer Harry Mulisch. It was the first Dutch movie to win an Oscar in the category "Best Foreign language film".
Much of the oeuvre of director Fons Rademakers is based on novels by famous Dutch authors. Earlier he made "The dark room of Damocles" (1963, based on a novel by Willem Frederik Hermans) and "Max Havelaar" (1976, based on a novel by Multatuli).
Two years later "The unbearable lightness of being" (1988, Philip Kaufman) would use the same theme with respect to a love triangle situated during the Prague spring.
"The assault" is situated in Holland during the last winter of the Second World War. A Dutch traitor is killed by the resistance before the house of the family Steenwijk. As a retaliation the whole family Steenwijk is killed by the Germans except for their youngest son Anton (Derek de Lint). During most of the rest of his life Anton tries to find out what exactly happened in that night.
The film covers the years 1944 - 1981, that is almost forty years. In doing so the film shows how one drastic event can change an entire life. In order to explain the leaps in time a voice over is necessary. This voice over feels somewhat formal in an otherwise compelling movie.
Maybe the strongest point of the movie is that one event is highlighted from different perspectives. Not questioning the existence of a single truth, as in "Rashomon" (1950, Akira Kurosawa), because at the end of the film (but not a moment earlier) we know the truth.
Instead the film shows how one event can influence not one but multiple lives. Sure, the story of Anton Steenwijk and his family remains the main story, but apart from Anton we meet:
Fake Ploeg (Huub van der Lubbe), the son of the traitor, whose life after the war was very difficult because his father had been on the wrong side in the war.
Cor Takes (John Kraaijkamp Sr), the man who shot the traitor although he knew a possible retaliation would kill innocent people.
Karin Korteweg (Ina van der Molen), the woman who, together with her father, was the first to see the dead body of the shot Ploeg. They had to make a difficult decision.
"The assault" is an adaptation of a novel by the famous Dutch writer Harry Mulisch. It was the first Dutch movie to win an Oscar in the category "Best Foreign language film".
Much of the oeuvre of director Fons Rademakers is based on novels by famous Dutch authors. Earlier he made "The dark room of Damocles" (1963, based on a novel by Willem Frederik Hermans) and "Max Havelaar" (1976, based on a novel by Multatuli).
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