MovieChat Forums > Return to the Hiding Place (2014) Discussion > Nice try... but fail

Nice try... but fail

posted 13 years ago by jufjo
8 replies | jump to latest

Spoilers:

This movie feels and looks like a student movie, something made by a bunch of young people on a few free weekends with help from their dads.
For starters the story is a random mix of confusing unrelated short scenes, bits from real war stories thrown together on a messy predictable pile of cliches.
The acting is generally atrocious, but the look of the movie is even worse.
Special effects and sets look like stolen from a old computer game, but whoever did the research, dressing and costumes for this movie has no idea about what things really were like in the Netherlands during the war.
They are not even sure who the enemies are, I've heard them called "Social Nationalists" and "Social Nazis".
The clothing is far from real 1940s and the hairstyles are extremely unauthentic.
Dressing an occupied country is done by placing random swastikas all over the place.
Nazi office?
Better put a swastika flag in every single corner.
Look good enough and you spot plenty of modern things all over the place.
Chocolate comes in silver foil (not available in wartime europe), a box camera is used as if they had timers on them, there is no blackout, the German spoken by the actors is laughable, etc, etc.
And then of course there are the annoying and boring discussions about religion, the stupid mentioning of all sorts of dillemas, etc, etc.
It just goes on and on and on, and so does the movie.

So in short; an amateurish low budget messy kind of movie made by the kids next door during the holidays.

Another fine example of a production that should have invested in a proper historical consultant.

[–] dhoward-9 13 years ago

I am sorry to read your reaction this film. I was brought into this production at the beginning as a dialect coach but was only able to work with one actor due to budgetary constraints. I have lived in Europe, have spoken German, and have studied the Dutch dialect. I am truly sad that you think the trailer lacks authenticity. I know that the original intention was to honor this history and story. Due to bugetary constraints, I understand that the decision was to use American stage actors who had performed this work as a play. I do not think an historian who could give attention to detail was brought into the project. I hope that we as American filmmakers will work harder at authenticity with every facet of a film. Respectfully, Diane Howard, Ph.D., http://www.dianehoward.com

[–] jufjo 13 years ago

It is indeed a shame no historian or historical consultant was brought into the production.
I am a historical consultant for movies, tv, museums, etc and could have at least helped them avoid some of the mistakes made without breaking the budget.
Simply by giving advice by email.

[–] boxster8 13 years ago

Yeah, a good piece of advice to the filmmakers would have been: DONT MAKE THIS MOVIE. lmao

[–] meneer-lantaarenpaal 13 years ago

dear dhoward-9.
As a dutch person myself i have to say that some people in the movie really had a dutch english accent. But most of them sounded like a German trying to talk english. Then there was this lady that kept pronouncing everything with the -ing extension with a K behind it ( everythingk, anythingk, somethingk) which was sadly very disturbing.

There was a lot of wrong details in the movie as stated before. I'vent heard one person pronounce the name Hans right... it was pronounced in the german way the entire time ( Hanz).

I'd say a good practice for the actors would be to start with our hard G ( the sound you make when you fail to change gears in your car) and the "rolling" r..

The german was.. well way better than the dutch but not sublime either. Tho the guy playing Boris was pretty good at getting it on the right tone ( nicely cast by the way, tall man, even has a dutch face haha ).

Allso i didn't understand.. when the german officers talk to eachother, they talk in german. When they talk to others, they talk english. When the dutch people speak, they speak dutch. This fact isn't really correct...only the soldiers from the NSB (Nationale Socialistische Beweging) were talking dutch to the other dutch people (Boris for instance, he was NSB aka nationalist socialist aka nationalist nazi) .

The germans that invaded holland didn't know any dutch at all ( unless they knew it before the invasion, which was highly unusual). The stereotype german soldier would just shout german at a guy untill he does what the soldier asks him to.

[–] pmalt 13 years ago

Unfortunately, I had to stop watching about twenty minutes into it. I love historical drama, but something was really wrong here. I see that others are naming "authenticity" as the problem, but that's not it, in my book. The problem is that it doesn't entertain credibly. That's different. The movie "Cabaret" could arguably be called the most inauthentic ever, yet it was quite riveting to watch. Why? Character, for one. This movie did not build character, and of course that comes back to the script and the acting. As a screenwriter myself, I've had to wince at the delivery of some of my own lines. so i understand the phenomenon. Also missing is dramatic tension. Sometimes silence is your best friend. Let the audience find its own way into the movie. Well, there it is; sorry.

[–] Dark_Sithlord 10 years ago

I thought the movie was pretty good. I know there were budget constraints, so I was willing to forgive a lot.

[–] Undutchable1939 10 years ago

Budget restraints are no excuse for not doing any research, not putting in some effort and not thinking logically about certain things.

Complaining about mistakes is almost as bad as complaining about complaining about mistakes.

[–] richard.fuller1 8 years ago

Im as thick as a brick, and even I can see the ham in this thing.

Just say our 'characters' are fighting the Nazis and go from there. Everyone will hate the Nazis so our characters will automatically be cheered and adored.

I've seen this with a Nazi movie that came out in the seventies before; just Monday morning quarterbacking to make the characters look grand.