A powerful motion picture that poses more questions than it answers, THE ASSAULT will haunt anyone who understands the tragic psychological effects of emotional repression. Spanning a 40-year period, it begins in Holland as the war is waning and the Germans realize they will be beaten. One
night while dining by candlelight during curfew, a Dutch family sees a local collaborator killed by a sniper. Fearing that they will be blamed, the family watches in horror as their neighbors drag the body in front of their home. Soon Germans are everywhere, the family is arrested and shot, their
house is burned, and the son, Anton (Marc van Uchelen), is taken away to prison. Years later, he becomes a physician, marries, and has his own family, but the memory of that bleak night continues to haunt him.
Winner of the 1986 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, THE ASSAULT is a powerful indictment of the Nazi horror, although it seldom editorializes. Much more than the war picture it begins as, this documentary-like Dutch film explores lives that have been torn apart by German occupation. leave a comment