The Assault is a 1986 film adaptation of the novel of the same name

The Assault

The Assault is a 1982 novel by Harry Mulisch about the Second World War. It deals with the consequences for the lone survivor of a Nazi retaliation on an innocent family after a collaborator named Fake Ploeg is found killed outside their home.The novel takes readers on the journey through the main...

 by Harry Mulisch

Harry Mulisch

Harry Kurt Victor Mulisch was a Dutch author. He wrote more than 80 novels, plays, essays, poems and philosophical reflections. These have been translated into more than 20 languages....

. The film was directed and produced by Fons Rademakers. The main character is played by both Derek de Lint

Derek de Lint

Dick Hein de Lint is a Dutch film and television actor.De Lint was born in The Hague. In 1977, he played the character Alex in the film Soldier of Orange, directed by Paul Verhoeven. In 1986 he played the role of Anton Steenwijk in The Assault, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language...

 (in the present) and Marc van Uchelen (as a youth), whereas Monique van de Ven

Monique van de Ven

Monica Maria Theresia "Monique" van de Ven is a Dutch actress and director.From 1973 until 1988 she was married to Dutch cinematographer and director Jan de Bont, with whom she lived in Los Angeles for a number of years. She is now married to actor and writer Edwin de Vries.Her film debut as an...

 plays two different roles, one in the present (his wife) and one in the past (a woman who participated in the assault and whom he meets later the same night in a dark police cell).

Plot

Anton Steenwijk's family was killed by the Nazis and his house was set on fire in 1945, after the corpse of a collaborator, executed by the Dutch resistance, was found outside his house. The story moves between the end of the Second World War and the 1980s, following Steenwijk's quest for truth.

Awards

The film won the 1986 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film

The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

, the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film

The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...

 and the Golden Space Needle of the Seattle International Film Festival

Seattle International Film Festival

The Seattle International Film Festival , held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees...

.

External links