The Resistance Banker
Short description
The Resistance Banker is set in the occupied Netherlands during the Second World War. Walraven van Hall, a banker, is asked to put his financial connections at the service of the Dutch resistance. Together with his brother Gijsbert, he devises a plan to raise large loans and channel the money to the resistance movement, a scheme that puts both men and their families at serious risk.
The film is a Dutch production directed by Joram Lürsen, from a screenplay by Marieke van der Pol, Michael Leendertse and Joost Reijmers. Barry Atsma plays Walraven van Hall and Jacob Derwig plays his brother Gijsbert, with Pierre Bokma, Götz Schubert, Fockeline Ouwerkerk and Raymond Thiry among the supporting cast. It runs 124 minutes and was released in March 2018.
Audience reception places the film in solidly positive territory: on IMDb it holds a rating of 6.9 from roughly 12,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 6.7 from around 276 votes. The two scores are close, suggesting a broadly similar response across both audiences.
What's left behind the scenes
- The bank robbery and money laundering depicted in the film are heavily simplified. In reality, the money was laundered through a very complex scheme involving accounts of dozens of different companies.
- According to director Joram Lürsen, the film deviates from historical reality in some instances, however the screenplay was written with the help of surviving members of the van Hall family. They had veto power if the fictionalization strayed too far from the history. Regardless, they accepted and approved almost all of the director's ideas.
- Pierre Bokma's portrayal of the collaborator was significantly exaggerated. This man was indeed appointed president of a bank, so he could well have been acquainted with Walrave van Hall and conducted some business with him. On the other hand, he did not actually participate in the capture and interrogation of Resistance members.
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