Return to the Hiding Place

Being a WW2 movie buff (totally bonkers, actually) I simply had to buy this flick without knowing much about it. Honestly, I'm very sorry I ever wasted my money on this. I had to check the credits to make sure it wasn't directed by Uwe Boll.

The story's supposedly a true one. In a script it probably looked much better than on film. Well, it couldn't have looked any worse, really. The acting is non-existent, scenography not there at all, characters are ridiculous. For example, one of the main characters insists on shouting practically all the time - even in most secret of scenes where being unnoticed is vital. There's even a scene of 4 hostages being shot by a firing squad of 3!!! Casting is dreadful, direction... Well, enough about that, I'm sure you get the picture.

In short: my fault entirely. On two accounts: for buying this movie in the first place and for insisting on watching it through (as I always do, sadly enough). Stay away from this one, you mark my words. A true story could have - and should have - been told in at least a semi-professional manner as anything less is a disgrace to the memory of true heroes it depicts. I'm sure they were great men and they deserve a lot more than this rubbish.

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.

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.

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

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.