Return to the Hiding Place

irstly, the story follows the lives of students and their involvement with the Dutch resistance. For me, I felt mixed emotions from the film. The storyline appeared to have great potential for a big blockbuster that could have sat nicely next to Defiance and Winter In Wartime on the movie shelf and while I enjoyed the film, sadly, there was much left to be desired. The German Colonel (Stass Klassen), by far led the film in the acting department. His performance was solid and at times comparable to Christoph Waltz's performance in Inglourious Basterds, but sadly, he was alone in this department. John Rhys Davis held his own but really too brief a role to help the film. David Thomas Jenkins, Craig Robert Young and the beautiful Rachel Spencer Hewitt made their presence felt, but I felt their characters lacked depth and consistency needed for them to truly grow on you and take you into their world which I put mostly down to the next part. The directing and screenplay seemed to prove the greatest inconsistency and biggest let down with the film. Maybe due to low budget. At times characters were not clearly introduced or very briefly which left me as a viewer putting 2 and 2 together a lot throughout the movie. Also the story pace was up and down like a roller-coaster sometimes dragging slowly but then moving so fast that the scene changed to hours/days ahead and left me wondering where it was at until once again putting 2 and 2 together. For me this is what hurt the story/movie the most.

There was a strong element of religious notion in the film. Religious values were incredibly important during those times and quite often determined where ones stance lied with regards to helping the Jews.

But having said all this, and it will really depend on the individual, I think overall wanting to watch for the storyline itself and to see the evil Colonel Stass in action kept me glued enough. But you will leave the seat having watched this, with the feeling it could have been so much more, in paying homage to those brave souls portrayed in the film.

I highly recommend this to everyone, especially for our youth to partake and see the supreme true story example, of what it is to stand for something for a vastly larger purpose beyond themselves.

Corrie ten Boom's story is one in a million. Nearly every life that has been touched by the 1975, "The Hiding Place" and it's stunning reality of the message of forgiveness worked into the framework of the plot of her rare and untouchable example, causes the viewer to thirst for more information on this dreaded and difficult time in history of WWII.

When I learned that Return to the Hiding Place, sequel to her story, was to be released, it was a delight to know that more of the story was to be revealed concerning the underground work of Holocaust and the resistance to the German Occupation.

To see the details of work of her "youth army" led by Hans Poley and Piet Hartog , young and brave men they were, gives this film a position that would challenge any youth of today to question their own maturity level, compelling a natural introspection to do something for a greater purpose and cause. Only a masterfully executed direction and production by the Spencer Team could pull this off in this beautiful and rich example of what few may know took place with the younger generation of the 1940s.

With the reality of Human Trafficking and Bullying that Hitler was notorious for inciting, no one can argue with ANY merit that this work in time wouldn't touch the viewer and place into the mind a self evaluation, for a life impacting "take away".

Dr. Spencer worked DIRECTLY with Hans Poley and heard the story first hand, working diligently to preserve the miraculous details of the truth of what actually took place.

Nothing can quite measure against the passion behind "why" this film was created, and completed for an eternal purpose. Acting, location shots, editing, and final product are par exellence.

This is a well thought out film of a very difficult time in history. The story is very well written, and includes a lot of detail not normally see in movies. It was presented from a very personal level. Casting and acting is excellent. Each actors character was very well developed and was very well presented. The German soldier was especially well done and very believable. I especially enjoyed the cinematography, being a photographer myself, I could appreciate the challenges that were met in the filming of the movie. A few of the scenes that could have been very grotesque were very well done in the fact that they presented what happened without the very gory details, the lamp shade is an excellent example of this. An excellent film for anyone that has an interest in the details of the Nazi / Jewish conflict in Holland and Cory Tim Boom's youth core should see this film

I found it quite hard to digest that the lighting, coloring, brightness, costuming, etc. was so bright. Usually war-time movies have that tinge of muteness in tone and brightness, giving an older feel and look. OK, no matter. One thing I noted was, as another wrote above, some of the SS were too old, and heavy set one mentioned, however not all German soldiers were thin. One big faux-pau was the doctor in the concentration camp who wrote the medical slip for Hans (stating he had TB) had a gold wedding ring. No camp inmate would have had a gold wedding ring on, needless to say, any piece of jewelry or personal item-they were all taken from people when they arrived to the camps! During the movie I thought perhaps some of the stories and characters were just story, but since there was some portrayal of the Tan Boom family and their actions, it seemed perhaps to be real. Only until I read about the movie on this website did I realize that many of the stories and characters were factual. Also, everyone was so darn clean, clean shaved. I mean, after being in prison, or running around doing clandestine operations, one would expect to see people pretty dirty and for men, unshaven? As one survivor told me, movies, even some of the big and provocative films as Schindler's List, always white-wash the Holocaust, never do justice as to the brutalities and harsh conditions endured. One question: the Nazi commandant, who was a crazed hunter--did he actually have a lampshade made out of the little Jewish orphan with the large birthmark on his chest, the shade he showed to Hans, when Hans was being questioned in his office? I know about lampshades and soap being made out of dead Jewish bodies from the camps, but have never seen such a topic being shown in a movie. I wonder if this was actual fact or fiction. Sickening either way. And there are those that say the Holocaust was a myth. What fools!

I'll skip the bad acting, stereotypical characterizations and sum with this: This is a piece of religious propaganda and an inaccurate portrayal of the Dutch under Nazi control and the Dutch resistance.

This movie could only be viewed in a good light by Christian fundamentalist, that care not so much for truth but rather that they are always cast as both the victim and the hero - a characterization not supported by history, let alone by the Christian church's tolerance, acceptance and sometimes outright promotion of the Nazism.

As a movie it was bad acting, mixed with some good stuff. As a piece of history, it was simply Christian wishful thinking and revisionist history.