unfortunate directing choices

Rating: 5/10 (15 January 2008)

I'm never quite at ease when the Holocaust is used as set dressing for a genre film. If you are British and of my age, memories of the Holocaust come to you in black-and-white footage with Olivier providing the commentary and that oppressive 'World-at-War' music playing. Anything less than the gravitas of that programme seems insulting. Verhoeven isn't the subtlest of filmmakers, so I wasn't expecting surprises.
The director says he likes to shock audiences, but I think all he does here is baffle them. The two moments that are most discussed are the full-frontal genitalia shot and the bucket of shite scene. Both are shown graphically when they could have been implied through reaction shots. Verhoeven claims to be following in a tradition of Dutch realism, but it seems to me he should be making documentaries. Why create a fiction and then puncture it with heavy-handed shock tactics? The naked shot would have been sexier if blocked around the male actor's reactions. The shite shot would have been more appalling if we only heard rather than saw what happened. Our minds can imagine more extreme emotion that filmmakers can compel. Verhoeven standing with a megaphone shouting: "Go! Be aroused!" or "Go! Be disgusted!" does not do it for me.
The plot twists and turns and is over-cooked, the acting is above average, the score is overdone and intrusive. People arguing about historical accuracy is laughable: Anyone who decides to bone up on the Dutch resistance by watching a Hollywood movie shouldn't be let out alone.
All in all, the in-your-face OTT style that works so well for the director in Total Recall is ungainly in this setting. If you want sex, intrigue and Nazis mixed in the perfect blend, check out Gloomy Sunday.