(Review originally written at 19 September 2004)
Before 2002 this movie was very rarely shown. Producer Alfred Heineken (better known as Freddie Heineken, yes indeed THE big man behind the famous Dutch beer brewery) had forbidden all public showings of this movie, with the exception of a few cinematic showings and one appearance on Dutch television. Reason for this was that his mistress Nan Los played in the film. So in a way this movie has always been hidden for the public till the death of Heineken in 2002, a shame because it's a pretty good war drama!
The first halve of the movie is very standard stuff. Typical WW II Dutch drama stuff you can say. The second halve however was very good! The story became tense and even mysterious and had a few surprising twists and a very excellent ending!
Lex Schoorel is a very irritating leading man as Ducker however as Dorbeck, who is also played by him, he is strangely enough very good. It's no coincidence that after this he appeared rarely in any other notable movies, with the exception of the television show "Floris" directed by Paul Verhoeven and staring Rutger Hauer and the failed but well known movie "Grijpstra & De Gier" also with Rutger Hauer and Rijk de Gooyer. The rest of the cast consist mainly out of fairly unknown actors with the exception of Sacco van der Made and Piet Römer who received most of their fame in the 90's. All of the acting performances reminded me of those from Hollywood movies made in the 40's and 50's. The movie besides looks even more outdated because it's in black & white.
The editing is at times very weird and the sound is also pretty messed up at times. This movie is certainly not as good as Fons Rademakers other Dutch war drama, the Academy Award winning movie "De Aanslag" with Derek de Lint and most definitely not as good as Paul Verhoeven's masterpiece "Soldaat van Oranje". But the second halve and certainly the ending make this movie a very solid war drama with an excellent story.
Worth seeing if you get the chance.
8/10
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