Why?


Does anyone know why they completely omitted Corrie's other sister Nollie from the movie? Also Peter is listed as Peter ten Boom, when his real name was Peter van Woerden (Nollie's son, not Willems)? I can understand shortening things for the length of the movie, but to omit a sister? Willems wife was never arrested with the family as the film portrays, but it was Nollie instead.

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[deleted]

But to change history is just bizarre; it would really not have taken much to add Nollie and to accurately portray Peter.

I personally hate when people are left out of their own lives; the same thing happened to David Gresham when he was not included in the feature film version of the C.S. Lewis biopic "Shadowlands"... even though he had been used in the earlier (and far superior) T.V. version of the same story.

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes" is an absolute statement.

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Dear Maskedman66: I was one of the two writers of the script of The Hiding Place. While you say "it would really not have taken much to add Nollie and to accurately portray Peter," the fact is that the complications of Corrie's extended family were difficult to explain within the limited time constraints of a two-hour film, and, more importantly, they were not relevant to the main story of Corrie, Betsie and Papa. The time it would have taken to "naturally" set up the necessary exposition regarding Nollie and Peter was simply not there (the film was not a documentary, so we couldn't just do a voice-over identification or a caption)and it would have had no "pay-off" dramatically. When making a dramatic film based on a true story (as opposed to a documentary) the writer(s) and director have to be willing to sacrifice and simplify ultimately irrelevant details (hence the common practice of conflating several real characters into one created character) for the good of the basic story and its truth. I'm sorry this frustrated you, but try and consider the difference between the documentary and dramatic forms. Larry Holben

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Thank you very much for your post and your civility-- a refreshing thing to find on this site!

I understand fully what you say, but it still seems odd to me and I still disagree with the practice. Still, Corrie herself was obviously cool with it, so I suppose I shouldn't kvetch.

God bless!


"Only a Sith deals in absolutes" is an absolute statement.

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I am a novelist and ghostwriter, and I have the same problem with
clients who want to write a novel "based on their lives."

Time and again, we have to remind them that, just as
dramatic story telling is not documentary, fiction is not autobiography.

The wail is, "But it didn't happen that way."

Our response is, it happened to YOU that way, but it didn't happen
to your character, did it?

Thanks for your explanation to ksolus, Larry. I was deeply moved
and blessed by your story telling. Even my 6-year-old son at that
time in his life said, "I understood it."

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Thank you, Mr. Holben for such a well worded and kind-hearted explanation.

I saw this movie on it's original theatrical release, and I had just read the book (I was in 5th grade at the time). I didn't find it that distracting that some characters and/or events were omitted. Possibly because at that age, I had trouble keeping track of all the characters in the book as I read it. I appreciated the simplification.
Later, I came to learn that's just the way films have to be given their running time. The story was still complete. With or without Corrie's sister Nollie, the Truth of the story was still there.

(Now, as a filmmaker myself, I also realize that every speaking role you add increases the budget of the film, as well.)

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I hear you. The thing is that IMO, one should srive for accuracy as much as possible and additionally should point to some resource that can clear up these departures. The WWW makes this easier but even when this film was made, there must have been a resource for them to point people to.

This film itself is really essential viewing on occasion to keep perspective of some of the current events. The more I study the World Wars, the more I see the aftermath still present.








"Only a Sith deals in absolutes" is an absolute statement.

Said by a Sith, or a hypocrite (or both).

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The line "Only a Sith deals in absolutes" was said, rather pompously, by General Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight, in the movie "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." The thing is, the line itself is an absolute statement.

None of which has anything to do with this discussion; it's just my signature.

Vis:


"Only a Sith deals in absolutes" is an absolute statement.

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You people who repeat your mantra, for whatever reason, are annoying and your oinion means nothing.


"Squares are simply triangles in a different form". ~ Blah blah blah

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You people who repeat your mantra, for whatever reason, are annoying and your oinion means nothing.


What does this even mean? Timbob, your 'oinion' doesn't sound too stable!

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