The Assault (1987)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Just what I expected

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

'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.

"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.

The film and the book, are really very much the same here. I read the book first and then watched the film and I have really not much to say about both. They are both of the same quality, for both book and film feature the same amount of accidental meetings which are after a while quite unbelievable and that is all the criticism I have. The film has of course certain things which are better than the book, for instance it is more exciting, but then again the film also has it's downsides, for sometimes the acting is not that great. But overall the better and worse things level each other out so my verdicts for book and film are the same: pretty good. If you like Mulisch's books and are interested in World War 2 read De Zaak 40/61.7 out of 10

I found this movie to be very thought-provoking, particularly its insights into the experiences of the residents of Holland during the Nazi occupation.One drawback in this movie was the totally incongruous chance meetings that Anton has with key individuals. e.g.: Ploeg's son just happens to be shoved into Anton's doorway during an anti-communist riot, Anton, while in a crowded cafe, just happens to be sitting right next to the man who shot Ploeg, and finally, in an anti-nuclear demonstration in which hundreds of people are marching, he just happens to be walking abreast of his long-ago next door neighbor!