Wil

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Wil and Lode are two young rookie cops in Antwerpen, starting their beat in 1942 under the most inauspicious circumstance, namely the Nazi occupation. It is widely known that a lot of Belgians (like citizens of other occupied countries) were willingly collaborating with the Nazis and even if Wil seems reluctant at first, things will take a bad turn, because the two cops are dragged by a Nazi to shake down a Jewish family with dire consequences. We know that the Nazis tortured gleefully whenever they got the chance and here they get plenty: the Nazi soldier disappears and it's found dead (we're shown his rotting corpse), the chief of police is tortured with boiling water, Wil gets more than one severe beating, plus assorted realistic stabbing and atrocities. I wonder how much we actually needed to see to get the point of unspeakable cruelty and relentless gloom and how much was done for shocking purposes only. I think the second is more likely. It doesn't help that the actor playing Wil (with one "L", it's a Dutch nickname) has the unfortunate features of a weakling and his role requires him to act extremely stupid (looking terrified when indifferent or defiant was needed, getting drunk with the Nazis and spilling the beans, etc...) while two more famous Belgian actors (Kevin Janssens and Koen De Bouw) who could have given some gravitas to the story, appear only in secondary roles. I give two stars (one compulsory) because I lived in Belgium and I liked the short scene in Antwerpen monumental train station (the old part, obviously...)

I thought it very disappointing, there was one strong moment ( morals vs survival ), but in general its a copycat from other and better holocaust movies with some unrealistic story plots and sterotyping behaviours. The main actor surely has talent but the emotion during the movie was kind of basic (yelling, sex and stares), not worked out, something which was a habit in Flemish movies. I regret the story didnt show what really happened in Antwerp and Belgium (for example the train to Auschwitz which was stopped etc), which is much more interesting because that is a realistic part of history we never had a movie about. Also Antwerp city is not really portrayed in the movie (some foreign city is i think) and almost the entire duration of the movie plays in the dark/night/...

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