Soldier of Orange
One of my favourite movies is ‘Soldaat van Oranje‘, or in English ‘Soldier of Orange’. Synopsis: the story of a group of friends at the start of and during WW II. But it’s more than that, it shows how people act in extreme situations, often not by choice, but the circumstances made them, or they jumped in without thinking, or they were forced to go in a different direction than could be expected in ‘normal’ life.
The movie was chosen as ‘Best Dutch Movie Ever’, and I can only agree. What makes the story extra special is that it all happened for real, no fiction. The movie is based on the book by (and life of) Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, who is named Erik Lanshof in the movie and is portrayed by Rutger Hauer. IMHO it’s the best part he ever played.
When they announced there would be a ‘Soldier of Orange, the musical’, I frowned. Surely it wouldn’t be possible to capture all the different locations in a musical. From Student society, bombed cities, secret night droppings of agents at the coast of Holland, to Queen Wilhelmina in excile in the UK and everything in between.
Well… they proved me wrong, as the musical is now running and received raving reviews.
A complete theatre was built in a hangar at the former Vliegveld Valkenburg (Airbase Valkenburg, near Leiden, my hometown :D). The audience sits on a revolving platform, which moves with every change of scene. From what I understand, each scene has its own set and instead of changing sets, the platform moves to the next scene.
And yes, it’s all there, student society, sea, ruins of a bombed city, the Queen in excile, guys driving a motorbike, and the ‘pièce the résistence’ at the end Queen Wilhelmina touches Dutch soil again, stepping out of a REAL Dakota!
It isn’t hard to imagine that this was a musical I had to see! Still saving up (as there’s more than musicals to spend my money on :p) my parents invited me to go with them. *does happy dance*
Bring on March 4th!!!! Of course I’ll write a review, but I just had to share this 🙂
Here’s a trailer, enjoy!
