I SERVED THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND : Paul Verhoeven’s ‘Soldier of Orange’ [7/10]

He may have been nominated for the foreign-language Oscar with 1973's Turkish Delight (lost to Day for Night) but it was World War II epic Soldier of Orange – nominated for a Golden Globe (lost to La cage aux folles!), and named Best Foreign Film by the Los Angeles Film Critics' Association – that really brought Paul Verhoeven, along with his leading man Rutger Hauer, to Hollywood's attention. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were among the many admirers of what was the most expensive film in the history of Dutch cinema, their enthusiasm persuading Verhoeven that he'd be better off on the other side of the Atlantic.
  
Based on Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema's 1971 memoir, Soldier of Orange was always reckoned by Verhoeven to be "not only his most personal but his best Dutch movie" (according to Rob van Scheers' invaluable book Paul Verhoeven, one of whose very few errors is stating that the film actually won the Golden Globe.) These accolades may now, of course, have shifted to his most recent picture, Black Book, which marked his triumphant return home after nearly two rollercoaster Hollywood-blockbuster decades, and which stands as a distaff companion-piece to Soldier of Orange.
  
These two films, uniquely in Verhoeven's filmography, allow the film-maker to engage directly with his own youth growing up in war-torn Holland – although neither is told from a child's perspective. The Roelfzema of the movie is an adventurous, vigorous chap in his early twenties, whose studies at the prestigious Leiden University (Verhoeven's own alma mater, and the Netherlands' Oxbridge equivalent) are rudely interrupted by the invading Nazi forces. Roelfzema is a happy-go-lucky sort, however, and his response is a blithe (some would say facetious) one: 'Beetje oorlog, best spannend!' – "A little bit of war might be exciting."
  
Roelfzema gets rather more excitement than he bargained for as he – rather inadvertently – becomes a key player in the rag-tag Dutch resistance, darting back and forth across the Channel and eventually assuming the position of trusted aide to the redoubtable Dutch monarch, Queen Wilhelmina, during her London exile. Roelfzema isn't what you'd call a firebrand patriot or an especially skilled "soldier of orange" (the title, like much else in the picture, is at least partially ironic/sardonic.) Blessed with a strong physique and an alert mind, Roelfzema is essentially in the right place at the right time. He isn't exactly a Zelig-like bystander (though Verhoeven predates Woody Allen by skilfully manipulating real-life newsreel footage to make it appear that Hauer is present at certain historic moments), rather rides a combination of luck and talent enabling him to get through the war in one piece, and also make some minor but vital contributions to his nation's struggle against their German oppressors.
  
But while Roelfzema is front and centre pretty much throughout, Soldier of Orange isn't the one-man band the title may suggest. At the start of the film our hero has his photo taken with the five fellow-students who are his closest friends – all members of the fraternity-group 'Minerva', which later counted Verhoeven himself among its rolls. It's a sextet whose numbers are severely reduced by the time armistice is declared, and who enjoy/endure wildly differing fates. Each actor has sufficient scope to establish a vivid characterisation, with Jeroen Krabbe making the biggest impact as Erik's noblesse oblige best friend Guus.
  
It's pretty evident throughout that Erik and Guus aren't, shall we say, descendents of Dutch streetsweepers. The Leiden we see is very much a domain of laid-back privilege, and Roelfzema's mouthful of a name does have a certain upper-class air about its jumble of syllables. Intriguingly, however, Gerard Soeteman's script incorporates not a scrap of what we might call 'back-story' for any of the characters: these individuals are defined not by who they are, or who their parents might have been, but rather by what they do in the here and now.

The arena of war, Verhoeven and Soeteman suggest, isn't just the place where mighty nations clash – it's where individuals find out who they really are, their identities forged in the hazardous heat of an environment where the threat of imminent death is inescapable and palpable. Three decades on, the vividly-drawn, incident-packed, full-blooded Soldier of Orange remains as watchable as ever – but it's this unexpected existential element which gives it that crucial extra element of depth.

Neil Young
3rd March, 2007

SOLDIER OF ORANGE : [7/10] : Soldaat van Oranje : Netherlands (Neth-Bel) 1977 : Paul VERHOEVEN : 147 mins (BBFC timing)
seen at Tyneside Cinema, Old Town Hall, Gateshead (UK), 11th February 2007 – public show (paid  £5.20)