Too heavy handed

Rating: 5/10 (14 September 2006)

I didn't like it too much. Too heavy handed, with an accent on unnecessary ultra-violence, degradation and humiliation. I might be dreaming, but I did detect a comment or two about the current situation in Iraq - having the Germans calling the Dutch resistance "terrorists", for example. The Germans were stereotypically nasty, except for (there's always one) a nice Nazi. All these horrible things happen to one woman (Carice van Houten) and yet she seems to find time to smile a lot. And it opens with her in Israel in 1956, which tells us she survives what we are about to watch... Over all, a disappointment. But then, I didn't know what to expect - I have never seen one of Verhoeven's films.