Errrr.....what the?

Rating: 1/10 (24 October 2006)

This is one of the worst films I have ever seen. I loved Starship
Troopers, but let's face it, this director is camp, titillating and
insincere. That's WHY I love ST. However, if you make those kind of
films, best stay away from something as complex as Nazi occupation. The
result can only be bad taste of the highest order.

Where were the Waffen SS? Why do we only see people's heads being
shaved when the Allies arrive? Are we seriously meant to believe a high
ranking Gestapo officer is 'a good guy really'? What's funny about
there being no demand for Kosher in Holland since the Nazis arrived?
Where were all the Dutch who collaborated willingly with the Nazis? Why
are the Dutch made to suffer and the Jews left to feel the guilt in
this film? These last points are very salient as it seems obvious to me
that this film is a blatant attempt to exonerate the Dutch involvement
with the Nazis.

The film focuses on the Dutch resistance (which in truth was almost
non-existent: the Dutch were one of the biggest collaborators) and
portrays them as heroic, it lays ALL the blame at the feet of one or
two Germans who resemble Barry from Eastenders and Uncle Fester
respectively, and creates only one or two Dutch collaborators.

The truth is much worse. Most of the population in Holland welcomed the
Nazis with open arms of indifference - tacit approval if you will. It
was in fact the Dutch Police, not the Nazis, who rounded up most of the
Jews for 'deportation'. To this day it remains one of Europe's
countries with the largest far right sympathies. This film sidesteps
all of these uncomfortable truths in a glib, revisionist tit-fest. No
wonder it got money from Holland; "Come to the Netherlands! It wasn't
anything to do with us, it was all the Germans! Smoke this, watch that,
forget everything!"

The fact that so many people from the Netherlands are singing this
film's praises on this site is no surprise. It must be very relieving
for you all to be told your ancestors were all heroes really, and that
they were all 'tricked' into the anti-semitic beliefs they held. And to
those Dutch people whose comments I have read condeming this film,
congratulations.