Presented in association with the Cultural Affairs Department of Consulate General of the Netherlands

Director Paul Verhoeven was born in 1938 in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and his early young life was shaped by the WWII German invasion then the subsequent post-war American occupation. Indeed, Verhoeven asserts that if not for those two occurrences he never would have become a filmmaker. His initial academic pursuits did not involve film, and he received his degree in mathematics and physics. But when he was in the Royal Netherlands Navy, he was introduced to moviemaking in the form of documentaries. The early 1960s saw Verhoeven make a succession of shorts and documentary shorts, resulting in his landing the job of directing twelve episodes of "Floris", a Dutch television series about a medieval knight played by Rutger Hauer. Verhoeven’s second feature film, TURKISH DELIGHT, proved a popular success in 1973 and set the tone for much of his later output – an almost super-realistic visual schematic, a candid frankness of approach, a refusal to sentimentalize, a fondness for bawdy humor and a very low tolerance for hypocrisy. Films like KEETJE TIPPEL, SOLDIER OF ORANGE, SPETTERS followed in quick succession throughout the rest of the 1970s, splitting critics but by-and-large embraced by the movie-going public. The delightfully profane mystery shocker THE 4^TH MAN (1983) gained even more critical and popular attention abroad, and Verhoeven made his first American film FLESH + BLOOD in 1985. His next three efforts, ROBOCOP, TOTAL RECALL and BASIC INSTINCT, were worldwide mega-hits, and although subsequent guilty pleasure SHOWGIRLS failed at the box office as well as with the critics, it has since redeemed itself by growing into a widely popular, underground cult phenomenon since its initial release in 1995. Verhoven slowed his pace in the last decade, bringing out only two pictures STARSHIP TROOPERS and THE HOLLOW MAN, before going back to his native Netherlands to realize his much-cherished project about the WWII Dutch Resistance, BLACK BOOK, which will be released here in the USA by Sony Pictures Classics this Spring. "People seem to have this strange idea that films can influence people to be violent, but in my sincere opinion film only reflects the violence of society." "As a director, my goal is to be completely open… I really like documentaries, therefore, reality is important to me when I do fiction… Of course, I must admit that I love to shock audiences." – Paul Verhoeven. We are thrilled to welcome director Paul Verhoeven to the Aero Theatre.

Friday, March 2 - 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

TURKISH DELIGHT (TURK FRUIT), 1973, 112 min. Touching, hilarious, erotic and tragic, director Paul Verhoeven’s second feature film is a blunt look at romance and raw sexuality and the first of five film collaborations with actor Rutger Hauer. Based on the best-selling, semi-autobiographical novel by Jan Wolkers, this is the intimate saga of Danish sculptor Eric (Hauer) and his star-crossed affair with Olga (the debut of celebrated Danish star Monique van de Ven), a young upperclass girl. Interfering are Olga's overbearingly shrewish mother and Vonk's own omnivorous sexual desires as well as Olga's illness. A borderless masterpiece in which staccato twists from shocking sex and bodily fluids move to love and melodrama to the funny "man vs. zipper" scene. Echoes of Danish painters Rembrandt and Bosch are wonderfully shot by cinematographer (later-turned-director) Jan de Bont. Not an idealistic Hollywood love story, this film makes you scratch your head and wonder "What was so controversial about BASIC INSTINCT, again?" Voted Best Dutch Film of the Century at the 1999 Netherlands Film Festival and a 1974 Oscar Nominee for Best Foreign Film.

Saturday, March 3 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

ROBOCOP, 1987, MGM Repertory, 102 min. Peter Weller stars as a murdered Detroit police officer who is brought back to life as an unstoppable cyborg cop in director Paul Verhoeven’s action-packed satire of the future of corporate America. Nearly twenty years after its release, the film still packs an enormous punch with its savage violence and ferociously dark sense of humor. Several brutal scenes had to be trimmed to reportedly keep the film from garnering an X-rating for violence. With a terrific supporting cast including Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith, Ronny Cox and a brilliantly amoral Miguel Ferrer as the head honcho behind the RoboCop program. "Most thriller and special-effects movies come right off the assembly line. You can call out every development in advance, and usually be right. ROBOCOP is a thriller with a difference." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

FLESH + BLOOD, 1985, MGM Repertory, 126 min. It’s 1501, and the world is full of mercenaries, peasants and pestilence. True to it's title, Paul Verhoeven presents the darkest of ages, a brutally realistic story of the struggle for life, complete with rape, murder, starvation and the Black Death. Rutger Hauer, in one of his finest roles, portrays the leader of a band of mercenaries, who seeks revenge for a nobleman’s (the excellent Jack Thompson) betrayal by kidnapping and brutalizing his son's (Tom Burlinson) bride to be. Jennifer Jason Leigh shines as the strong willed Agnes. Based in part on unused material for the Dutch TV series "Floris," which Gerard Soeteman, Paul Verhoeven and Rutger Hauer collaborated on in 1969. Watch for the amazing performance by Susan Tyrell as an onlooker to one of the films most brutal and controversial scenes. The late Basil Poledouris contributes perhaps his best score. Although Verhoeven later denied any connection, some critics at the time of release pointed out allegorical similarities to Patty Hearst’s abduction by the SLA.

Sunday, March 4 – 7:30 PM

Sneak Preview!