Hard to imagine, but the creator of illustrious films like Basic Instinct, Total Recall, Starship Troopers, Robocop, and Showgirls thought he had to go Spielberg at some point and schlockily make a film about other people's pain. I'm not saying the previous films were great cinema -- Basic Instinct was detective porn, Showgirls was just badly orchestrated porn, Total Recall had the Cabbage Patch fetus Kuato, Robocop was inspired by Clockwork Orange's Ludovico technique, and Starship Troopers was the video game Centipede set to that fucking Blur woo-hoo song -- however, they didn't come as near to offending the senses as setting Anne Frank to a cheesy story about how she slept her way into the gestapo only to find out that everyone she trusted sold her out for money. Now, I have to be honest, I didn't find this film nearly as offensive as everyone's favorite Holocaust darling Schindler's List, but it has it's own downright low moments -- like having the lead character get dumped on literally when a large vat of excrement is intentionally poured over her head. I guess Paul Verhoeven wanted to show how "shitty" things were being occupied by Germany. Overall, the film is watchable because the plot moves at hypersonic action movie speed, which is unique for the pain and suffering genre. What actually saves this film from an extremely negative review here is that the story is obviously fiction and not history "rewritten for the screen" with an extra helping of bullshit climaxes (I'm looking at you, the asshole that had a montage tour of killing guided by a little girl in a red dress). I'm just left wondering why newspapers like the Boston Globe gave this film three and half stars.
Kuato bids you farewell -- now, open your mind!
-TRM
