Return to the Hiding Place

I looked forward to viewing this movie with its theme, including Nazi Germany, and hoped it would awaken people to the world around them today. This movie fell deeply short in many areas. It uses the title of the book, "Return to the Hiding Place" by Hans Poley, and yet that is where the similarity between the book and movie ends. Read the book for yourself.

Stass Klassen as the sinister German Colonel and John Rhys Davis in the all too small role of Eusi, were a welcome presence and offset to the weak and one dimensional portrayal by many of the other actors. It was apparent which actors were theatrically trained versus movie actors and which were there as "scenery" and lacked experience and training.

This was basically a family backyard production. Looks to be a directorial debut with scant seasoned movie production professionals involved. The screenplay had some good points. The editing was a hack job. The story lines were disjointed, it was difficult to follow the characters and which storyline they pertained to and many scenes were far-fetched.

It's apparent the directors and production didn't know what they were doing. I've seen too many "low budget" quality indie films and yet their quality was far superior to this movie. It doesn't compare to "The Hiding Place" made in 1975 either.

Those who gave this film a 10 rating, were obviously involved with the making of the film, know people who made it or were in it. As such, they chose to be "overenthusiastic" and obviously, grossly exaggerated its quality. Passion of the Christ, Schindler's List & Forrest Gump deserve a high rating. This film does not. When a movie is good, be honest and say so. When it is not of decent quality, be truthful and say so! I saw this movie in one of the few places they actually previewed it. The ever changing release date, including postponing again until February 2015, and the many free previews they've done, lends more to the case that it is not a quality film worth your very valuable money and very valuable time.

Perhaps someone else will create a movie which will give those who lived courageously and stood up for the cause of humanity, the quality production their story deserves. I pray so as theirs is a story worth telling rightly.

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 don't know what stars to give the movie. It is okay, and some actors are very good, like the guy who plays the Nazi colonel. But because he plays his role so well you'll notice that other actors in the movie are not so talented/experienced. Sometimes you see some actors just standing there like they don't know what to do until it's time for them to say a line. Also the director could make some more cuts. The story is too slow here and there. The story is good, but maybe the screenwriter could focus more on how the resistance could stop the 'rabit hunt' on Jewish children and keep some parts that didn't have anything to do with that out of the story to keep the movie going. But nevertheless it's a fine movie with historical value. It's about the Christian resistance in the Netherlands during the second world war and how they fought against the evil national-socialist empire of Adolf Hitler.

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 have not sat through such a riveting drama in a very long time. The movie held my interest throughout the entire viewing. The stories within this story were also very well balanced and heartfelt. Knowing this was based on a true story was captivating. It was very inspirational and the characters were wonderful in their parts. I loved this movie and have and will continue to recommend it be seen when it is released to theaters, which can not be soon enough!! It is a wonderful story of Christ's intervention in very tough times and how all can persevere. A wonderful job of directing and editing, too. Truly a God-made film! Thank you for telling this story!!