During World War II, Dutch students join the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands.During World War II, Dutch students join the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands.During World War II, Dutch students join the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands.
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations
Reinhard Kolldehoff
- Geisman
- (as René Kolldehoff)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe explosions in this movie were provided not by special effects technicians, but by the Dutch Marines. In his DVD commentary on this movie, director Paul Verhoeven states that the explosive charges were held in place with metal. When one of the charges was set off, it blew the metal to bits. One of the flying fragments nearly killed Rutger Hauer.
- GoofsWhen Guus goes to Holland for the first time to instruct the resistance group, he is walking in the street with his transmitter in a trunk and in the street he passes a window which displays a poster which says "staking brengt alleen ellende over uw eigen volk". This instruction (which Guus gives) in the movie takes place in 1942, but this poster wasn't issued by the Germans before the winter 1944-1945 as it refers to the great train strike in the winter of 44-45.
- Quotes
Geisman: Did you write that?
Erik Lanshof: Sir, yes sir.
Geisman: What did you write that with?
Erik Lanshof: Sir, with shit, sir.
- Alternate versionsThe German video version released in 1988 was heavily cut for about 35 min., in 2007 this film was finally released uncut in Germany as part of the "Paul Verhoeven-Klassiker Edition".
Featured review
Great story of courage and determination
True story of Erik Hazelhof, a young university lad who becomes involved in the Dutch resistance movement during WWII. We follow him and some of his close friends as they take different paths during the early occupation of Nederland by the Nazis. One of them becomes a nazi collaborator, another is Jewish and does his best to defy the occupational troops, the others join the resistance in varying degrees. The story gets complex in its telling and you get an in depth look at how some civilians did their best to stay alive and help the war effort. The story focuses mostly on a Hauer's character. I thought it was great that he was not a 'John Wayne-Rambo' type of character. Instead we find a chap who is a bit reluctant to do his part and is more concerned with surviving the war years. This movie works on several levels. I love espionage and this has plenty of it. You also can look at it as a human drama to see how the war affects the comradery of the lads. And for you gals out there, there are some love scenes. There are some great scenes that capture the spirit of the time. This movie can be added to the likes of Schindler's List, Das Boot, and Saving Private Ryan as great WWII movies.
helpful•151
- tyguy-2
- Aug 13, 2002
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Borba na zivot i smrt
- Filming locations
- Noordwijk, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands(Hotel Huis Ter Duin and beach)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- NLG 5,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime2 hours 45 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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