Soldier of Orange

Soldier of Orange

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Movie Reviews of Soldier of Orange

Movie Review: Real people, real events.....
Summary: 5 Stars

I live 5 blocks from the Pentagon, and on Sept. 11 when I drove home from work, I saw first hand the aftermath of an act of war. (My husband saw the blast from his office window.) I have friends who were in NYC or the at the Pentagon on Sept. 11. My friend Mike was in NYC for a meeting and packing to return when he heard the first explosion. As the first tower fell, he ran like mad from the Marriott that used to be in the WTC complex. Mike was barefooted and cut his feet to pieces. I asked him why he did not slip on his shoes before he ran. He says he did not want to appear in public wearing loafers with no socks. As Mike ran body parts rained down on him. He is shaking and breaks down in tears everytime he talks about it, but his psychiatrist tells him to keep talking about it.

So, when I watched SOLDIER OF ORANGE last night, and I saw Rutger Hauer's reaction to seeing body parts and broken babbling people after a Nazi bombing, I understood how little I had known before Sept. 11 and that bravery is relative. Some people like Donald Rumsfield stay on the job and pull people out of the wreckage. Some people run like mad. Some hide until the dust clears. Not until terrible events occur do any of us know how we will react.

Verhoeven's rendering of SOLDIER OF ORANGE is brilliant. The story concept is straighforward--follow the experiences of an ordinary group of young Dutch men who are all friends at university, who over the course of the film experience the halcyon days of college life and the destruction of their homeland via war and its aftermath.

Verhoeven shows how each of these young men reacts to events beyond their control. These are ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances. A few of them do end up in uniform (opposing sides). One man cannot stand to see a Jew mistreated and he intervenes to his sorrow. Another has a German mother so he joins the Nazis. One is Jewish and must attempt an escape. Another hides out and continues his eductation, acquiring his degree behind closed doors. Another dies in a concentration camp. Yet another joins the RAF after a series of misadventures and becomes a hero.

Someone once said to me they thought Tom Hanks was miscast in Speilberg's RYAN, to which I replied, but he's just like my Uncle Paul who received a battlefield commission and a chest full of medals when he was the last man standing in a fight in southern France. Gentle Uncle Paul who went home to Illinois after the war, resumed his life as a printer and never did another bold thing.

I think this story is fabulous--an exploration of how real people behave during unreal times, which Verhoeven seems to understand. My DVD is excellent with vivid shots of the Netherlands and England twenty years ago when folks still rode bicycles. What a hoot to see a troop of soldiers on bikes!! (The film contains some hilarious scenes, even in war funny things happen.) The DVD contains a commentary with Verhoeven and others similar to the CRITERION films.

Summary of Soldier of Orange