Physician turned filmmaker who has dissected historical and political issues such as the Vietnam war ("O.K." 1970), unemployment ("Plenty to Eat on a Silver Platter" 1976), pollution ("Killing Cars" 1984) and German amnesia about its Nazi past ("The Nasty Girl" 1989). "O.K.", about the rape of a Vietnamese girl by American soldiers, is based on the same incident which inspired Brian De Palma's "Casualties of War" (1989); the splendid "The Nasty Girl" earned Verhoeven his first significant recognition in the USA. Verhoeven's father was German director-actor Paul Verhoeven, not to be confused
