Soldier of Orange
Encyclopedia
Soldier of Orange is a 1977 Dutch
film
directed by Paul Verhoeven and produced by Rob Houwer
, starring Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbé
. The film is set during the German occupation of the Netherlands
during World War II
, and shows how individual students have different roles in the war. The story is based on the book Soldaat van Oranje by Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema
, who lived the story himself.
The film had a budget
of ƒ 5,000,000 (€2,300,000), at the time the most expensive Dutch movie ever. With 1,547,183 viewers, it was the most popular Dutch film of 1977. The film received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
in 1980. The film is considered to be one of the two best Dutch films made in the 20th century.
, amongst them Erik Lanshof (Rutger Hauer), Guus LeJeune (Jeroen Krabbé
), Jan Weinberg (Huib Rooymans), and Alex (Derek de Lint
). Robby Froost (Eddy Habbema) is a friend of Erik's, and Esther (Belinda Meuldijk
) is Robby's girlfriend. Each of them happens to follow a different path and therefore has a different role in the Second World War
, either as a collaborator
or in the resistance
. Part of the story is set in London
, where Queen Wilhelmina
(Andrea Domburg) has her residence. The students Erik and Guus fight alongside Colonel Rafelli (Edward Fox
) and soldier Susan (Susan Penhaligon
) of the allied forces
in London.
The film begins with a flashforward
in the form of a newsreel
with a voice-over
. Queen Wilhelmina is accompanied by Erik arriving in the Netherlands from London shortly after the Second World War. After the newsreel the film starts in the late 1930s in Leiden, where freshmen undergo the humiliation of the initiation rites of their fraternity
. Erik is picked out by Guus, the chair of the fraternity, who throws a bowl of soup over his head and injures him with the bowl. After this accident, Guus apologizes to Erik, the two become close friends and Guus offers him a room in his private student house in the center of Leiden. In this house the students (Erik, Guus, Jacques, Jan and Alex) have a drink which confirms their new friendships.
An English radio broadcasting, in September 1939, interrupts the students in a tennis match and announces the declaration of war by the United Kingdom
against Germany
. In the beginning the students seem to take things lightly, the Netherlands will probably be neutral again, like in World War I
. Jan and also Alex, who has a German mother, immediately join the Dutch army. Subsequently in May 1940, Germany invades the Netherlands and German bombs start to fall, and Erik and Guus try to join the army but they are not accepted by a traumatized army officer. Shortly thereafter the Netherlands capitulates. Erik has an affair with Esther.
Robby has a radio transmitter in his garden shed from where he contacts the Dutch resistance in London. He arranges for Erik to take a flight to London. The Jewish Jan, student boxing champ, gets into trouble by fighting with two anti-Semitic
collaborator
s, who were bullying a Jewish salesman. Because of this Erik offers his place on the airplane to Jan, but during the pickup they get into a fight with Nazi soldiers, and Jan gets captured. Erik is able to escape.
When Erik meets Alex during a military parade
, he finds out he is now fighting on the German side for the SS
. Later Erik is also captured. In prison he hears from Jan that "Van der Zanden" is the traitor in London. Jan is executed. Robby's radio installation is discovered and he is forced by the Gestapo
to cooperate as a spy, because his fiancée Esther is Jewish.
Erik and Guus try to flee to London again, this time on a Swiss
boat and they get picked up by a Royal Navy ship. In London Erik meets Van der Zanden (modelled after general François van 't Sant) and tries to kill him, but he appears not to be a traitor but head of the Dutch Central Intelligence Service and a trustee of the Dutch Queen. Guus has an affair with the British soldier Susan. Erik and Guus agree with the Queen to pick up some resistance leaders who could play an important role in the Netherlands after the war. Guus is dropped on the beach and tricks himself into a party near the beach. Now Erik has an affair with Susan.
Erik comes back to the Netherlands to pick up Guus and the resistance leaders. But Robby is with them on the beach and the Germans have followed the group who are about to escape by sea. Erik tried to warn them about Robby, but couldn't reach them. On his way to the beach Erik runs into Alex at a Nazi party close to the beach and dances ballroom tango with him in the middle of the party. Erik is able to flee from the party onto the beach and meets the others. When Robby sees that Erik knows about his collaboration, he flees. Then the group who tries to escape is under fire. The resistance leaders get killed, Guus escapes over land, and Erik is able to escape on the British ship and returns to London, and to Susan.
When Guus meets Robby he shoots him in the middle of the street. Guus gets caught and is beheaded. Alex is fighting in Russia and gets killed by a hand grenade
thrown by a boy he had insulted when he begged him for food. Erik becomes an RAF pilot and drops bombs over Germany.
Later Erik is appointed as adjudant to the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, and accompanies her back to the Netherlands after the war is over, as shown in the newsreel in the beginning of the film. In the end Erik meets Esther again and finds that the Dutch have cut her hair short in anger at her and Robby's collaboration with the Nazis. She says she bears no grudge against anyone for this. Finally Erik celebrates the end of the war with one of his fellow students, Jacques ten Brinck, who also survived the war.
Award for Best Foreign Film in 1979
. One year later, in 1980, it received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
, but the French-Italian film La Cage aux Folles
won the award.
In the election for best Dutch film of the twentieth century at the Netherlands Film Festival
in 1999 Soldier of Orange reached the second place, right after another Paul Verhoeven film Turkish Delight
.
at the former Valkenburg Air Base
. Instead of having the sets changing on the stage the area where the audience sits revolves to different stages, which include a set with a recreated beach and an artificial sea and a set containing a real Dakota plane.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
directed by Paul Verhoeven and produced by Rob Houwer
Rob Houwer
-Awards:*1999 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Production -Selected filmography:* Hunting Scenes From Bavaria * Man on Horseback * Business Is Business * Turkish Delight * Katie Tippel * Soldier of Orange...
, starring Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbé
Jeroen Krabbé
Jeroen Aart Krabbé is a Dutch actor and film director who has appeared in many Dutch and international films.-Biography:...
. The film is set during the German occupation of the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and shows how individual students have different roles in the war. The story is based on the book Soldaat van Oranje by Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema
Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema
Siebren Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema DFC RMWO , was a Dutch wartime RAF-pilot, Dutch spy and writer. He was a Knight 4th class of the Military William Order....
, who lived the story himself.
The film had a budget
Budget
A budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
of ƒ 5,000,000 (€2,300,000), at the time the most expensive Dutch movie ever. With 1,547,183 viewers, it was the most popular Dutch film of 1977. The film received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
in 1980. The film is considered to be one of the two best Dutch films made in the 20th century.
Plot
The film is about a group of students from Leiden, the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, amongst them Erik Lanshof (Rutger Hauer), Guus LeJeune (Jeroen Krabbé
Jeroen Krabbé
Jeroen Aart Krabbé is a Dutch actor and film director who has appeared in many Dutch and international films.-Biography:...
), Jan Weinberg (Huib Rooymans), and Alex (Derek de Lint
Derek de Lint
Dick Hein de Lint is a Dutch film and television actor.De Lint was born in The Hague. In 1977, he played the character Alex in the film Soldier of Orange, directed by Paul Verhoeven. In 1986 he played the role of Anton Steenwijk in The Assault, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language...
). Robby Froost (Eddy Habbema) is a friend of Erik's, and Esther (Belinda Meuldijk
Belinda Meuldijk
Belinda Meuldijk is a Dutch actress, writer, and activist. She has performed in Dutch television shows and movies, and is also a song writer...
) is Robby's girlfriend. Each of them happens to follow a different path and therefore has a different role in the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, either as a collaborator
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
or in the resistance
Dutch resistance
Dutch resistance to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during World War II can be mainly characterized by its prominent non-violence, summitting in over 300,000 people in hiding in the autumn of 1944, tended to by some 60,000 to 200,000 illegal landlords and caretakers and tolerated knowingly...
. Part of the story is set in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where Queen Wilhelmina
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmina was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948. She ruled the Netherlands for fifty-eight years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World War I and World War II, the economic crisis of 1933, and the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial...
(Andrea Domburg) has her residence. The students Erik and Guus fight alongside Colonel Rafelli (Edward Fox
Edward Fox (actor)
Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...
) and soldier Susan (Susan Penhaligon
Susan Penhaligon
Susan Penhaligon is a British actress and writer, she is probably best known for her appearances in the controversial 1976 drama Bouquet of Barbed Wire and several ongoing roles in UK television series.-Early days:...
) of the allied forces
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
in London.
The film begins with a flashforward
Flashforward
A flashforward is an interjected scene that takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future...
in the form of a newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
with a voice-over
Voice-over
Voice-over is a production technique where a voice which is not part of the narrative is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations...
. Queen Wilhelmina is accompanied by Erik arriving in the Netherlands from London shortly after the Second World War. After the newsreel the film starts in the late 1930s in Leiden, where freshmen undergo the humiliation of the initiation rites of their fraternity
Fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...
. Erik is picked out by Guus, the chair of the fraternity, who throws a bowl of soup over his head and injures him with the bowl. After this accident, Guus apologizes to Erik, the two become close friends and Guus offers him a room in his private student house in the center of Leiden. In this house the students (Erik, Guus, Jacques, Jan and Alex) have a drink which confirms their new friendships.
An English radio broadcasting, in September 1939, interrupts the students in a tennis match and announces the declaration of war by the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
against Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In the beginning the students seem to take things lightly, the Netherlands will probably be neutral again, like in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Jan and also Alex, who has a German mother, immediately join the Dutch army. Subsequently in May 1940, Germany invades the Netherlands and German bombs start to fall, and Erik and Guus try to join the army but they are not accepted by a traumatized army officer. Shortly thereafter the Netherlands capitulates. Erik has an affair with Esther.
Robby has a radio transmitter in his garden shed from where he contacts the Dutch resistance in London. He arranges for Erik to take a flight to London. The Jewish Jan, student boxing champ, gets into trouble by fighting with two anti-Semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
collaborator
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
s, who were bullying a Jewish salesman. Because of this Erik offers his place on the airplane to Jan, but during the pickup they get into a fight with Nazi soldiers, and Jan gets captured. Erik is able to escape.
When Erik meets Alex during a military parade
Parade (military)
A military parade is a formation of soldiers whose movement is restricted by close-order manouevering known as drilling or marching. The American usage is "formation or military review". The military parade is now mostly ceremonial, though soldiers from time immemorial up until the late 19th...
, he finds out he is now fighting on the German side for the SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
. Later Erik is also captured. In prison he hears from Jan that "Van der Zanden" is the traitor in London. Jan is executed. Robby's radio installation is discovered and he is forced by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
to cooperate as a spy, because his fiancée Esther is Jewish.
Erik and Guus try to flee to London again, this time on a Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
boat and they get picked up by a Royal Navy ship. In London Erik meets Van der Zanden (modelled after general François van 't Sant) and tries to kill him, but he appears not to be a traitor but head of the Dutch Central Intelligence Service and a trustee of the Dutch Queen. Guus has an affair with the British soldier Susan. Erik and Guus agree with the Queen to pick up some resistance leaders who could play an important role in the Netherlands after the war. Guus is dropped on the beach and tricks himself into a party near the beach. Now Erik has an affair with Susan.
Erik comes back to the Netherlands to pick up Guus and the resistance leaders. But Robby is with them on the beach and the Germans have followed the group who are about to escape by sea. Erik tried to warn them about Robby, but couldn't reach them. On his way to the beach Erik runs into Alex at a Nazi party close to the beach and dances ballroom tango with him in the middle of the party. Erik is able to flee from the party onto the beach and meets the others. When Robby sees that Erik knows about his collaboration, he flees. Then the group who tries to escape is under fire. The resistance leaders get killed, Guus escapes over land, and Erik is able to escape on the British ship and returns to London, and to Susan.
When Guus meets Robby he shoots him in the middle of the street. Guus gets caught and is beheaded. Alex is fighting in Russia and gets killed by a hand grenade
Hand grenade
A hand grenade is any small bomb that can be thrown by hand. Hand grenades are classified into three categories, explosive grenades, chemical and gas grenades. Explosive grenades are the most commonly used in modern warfare, and are designed to detonate after impact or after a set amount of time...
thrown by a boy he had insulted when he begged him for food. Erik becomes an RAF pilot and drops bombs over Germany.
Later Erik is appointed as adjudant to the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, and accompanies her back to the Netherlands after the war is over, as shown in the newsreel in the beginning of the film. In the end Erik meets Esther again and finds that the Dutch have cut her hair short in anger at her and Robby's collaboration with the Nazis. She says she bears no grudge against anyone for this. Finally Erik celebrates the end of the war with one of his fellow students, Jacques ten Brinck, who also survived the war.
Cast
|
Belinda Meuldijk Belinda Meuldijk is a Dutch actress, writer, and activist. She has performed in Dutch television shows and movies, and is also a song writer... as Esther. Fiancée of Robby, has an affair with Erik, and helps out Erik several times. Peter Faber (actor) Peter Faber is a Dutch stage, television and film actor.- Early career :Faber was co-founder van Het Werkteater and twice won a Louis d'Or for his roles in Het Koekoeksnest and Avondrood.- Television and film career:... as Will Oostgaarde. Man who accompanies Erik and Guus to London, becomes a RAF pilot together with Erik. Rijk de Gooyer Rijk de Gooyer was a Dutch Golden Calf- winning actor, writer, comedian and singer. From the 1950s until the early 1970s, he became well known in The Netherlands as part of a comic duo with John Kraaijkamp, Sr... as Gestapo-man Breitner. He is the man who beats up Jan, follows Erik around, and he is also the one who threatens Robby and makes him collaborate. Reinhard Kolldehoff Reinhard Kolldehoff was a German film actor. He appeared in 140 films between 1941 and 1988.He was born and died in Berlin, Germany.-Selected filmography:* Bürgermeister Anna * Hanussen... as Geisman. He is the German senior officer who gives orders to Gestapo-man Breitner, who questions Jan and tells him about "Van der Zanden". National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands The National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands was a Dutch fascist and later national socialist political party. As a parliamentary party participating in legislative elections, the NSB had some success during the 1930s... squeaker. She is the woman who helps Gestapo-man Breitner in finding Robby. |
Awards
The film won the Los Angeles Film Critics AssociationLos Angeles Film Critics Association
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association was founded in 1975. Its main purpose is to present yearly awards to members of the film industry who have excelled in their fields. These awards are presented each January...
Award for Best Foreign Film in 1979
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards 1979
The 5th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 1979, were announced on 15 December 1979 and given on 9 January 1980.-Winners:*Best Picture:**Kramer vs. Kramer...
. One year later, in 1980, it received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Language Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...
, but the French-Italian film La Cage aux Folles
La Cage aux Folles (film)
La Cage aux Folles is a 1978 French-Italian film adaptation of the 1973 play La Cage aux Folle by Jean Poiret. It is co-written and directed by Édouard Molinaro and stars Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault.-Plot:...
won the award.
In the election for best Dutch film of the twentieth century at the Netherlands Film Festival
Netherlands Film Festival
The Netherlands Film Festival is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht.During the ten-day festival, all Dutch film productions of the previous year are exhibited. Besides feature films, the program also consists of short subjects, documentary...
in 1999 Soldier of Orange reached the second place, right after another Paul Verhoeven film Turkish Delight
Turkish Delight (film)
Turkish Delight is a 1973 Dutch film directed by Paul Verhoeven and filmed by Jan de Bont. The film is a love story of an artist and a young woman, starring Rutger Hauer and Monique van de Ven. The story is based on the novel Turks fruit by Jan Wolkers...
.
Musical
On October 30, 2010 the Soldier of Orange musical premiered in the Netherlands. It is shown in a special theatre converted from an old hangarHangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...
at the former Valkenburg Air Base
Valkenburg Naval Air Base
Valkenburg Naval Air Base is a former air base located just south of Valkenburg, which is part of Katwijk and close to the city of Leiden, that was used by the Royal Netherlands Navy up until 2006, being their base for the Lockheed P-3 Orion aircraft, which were sold to Germany and Portugal,...
. Instead of having the sets changing on the stage the area where the audience sits revolves to different stages, which include a set with a recreated beach and an artificial sea and a set containing a real Dakota plane.
Reviews
- Review by Janet MaslinJanet MaslinJanet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
at New York Times - Review by Bill WarrenBill WarrenWilliam Bond Warren , better known as Bill Warren, is an American film historian and critic generally regarded as one of the leading authorities on science fiction, horror and fantasy films....
at Audio Video Revolution (4.5/5) - Review by Scott WeinbergScott WeinbergScott Glenn Weinberg is an American attorney best known for defending high-profile criminal cases in the state of Michigan.-Career:Scott Weinberg began his career as a U.S. Treasury Bond Trader at the Chicago Board of Trade in 1989...
at Apollo Movie Guide (7.9/10) (79/100)