Based on real events, Soldier of Orange tells the story of Dutchman Erik Lanshof (a star-making performance by Rutger Hauer) and a small group of students as they struggle to survive the Nazi occupation to the end of the Second World War. The destinies of the characters range from joining the German army to making for England, the OSS and the Resistance. Across a canvas lasting almost three hours director Paul Verhoeven unfolds a saga of friendship, espionage and romance with almost documentary realism--though not as graphically violent as his later American films the torture scenes are intense--crafting a deeply affecting film widely regarded as the greatest ever made in Holland. Comparable recent films such as Enigma (2001) and Charlotte Gray (2002) do not come close. Hauer is brilliant at the heart of what is a detailed and thoughtful drama made with integrity and passion. Co-star Jeroen Krabbé has gone onto a notable career in Hollywood, while Edward Fox and Susan Penhaligon provide more familiar faces for British audiences. The film is shot in Dutch, German and English and subtitled as necessary. Twenty years later Verhoeven made Starship Troopers in 1997, a satirical science-fiction companion to this modern European classic.--Gary S Dalkin