How do you make a film based on a novel about a futuristic utopia where only soldiers get to vote, violence is the supreme form of authority, and perpetual war is fought against an inhuman enemy? When Dutch director Paul Verhoeven was given the task to adapt Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, he chose to satirize the source material by making its fascist implications explicit. Not by making a comedy, but by creating exactly the kind of propaganda-film such a society would make about itself. 

Many contemporary critics missed the satire and found the movie distasteful. However, it has since become a cult classic that foreshadowed the ultra-nationalist hysteria, xenophobia, militarism and resurgent fascism of the post 9-11 era. In dark times it is important to not look away from the monsters, but also to keep having fun. Starship Troopers manages to do both. – Niek

Letterboxd

IMDb

Sign up for the Zienema newsletter