Ja zuster, nee zuster

Why? I cannot decipher the intrigue why this movie would have gained the label as a lesbian and gay movie, it has been dumped into such category in New York, San Francisco, Hamburg, Reel Affirmations, Hong Kong, Reykjavik film festivals. If it is because of the relationship between Boordevol and Wouter, the gay plot line is recessive at all. It's a movie of fun, joy, human warmth, acceptance, forgiveness and resilience. I got no clue if the original 1966-68 Dutch TV series bore any homosexual connotation or not because first I was not born yet, second the 60's was a conservative period that only one or two public media had such guts to manifest this human relationship.

Roald Dahl came into my mind when I was watching it because of the humour, the caricatured characters i.e. the Scrooge landlord, the eccentric scientist, the mysterious hairdresser etc and also the multi-faceted neighbourhood setting, they also appear from time to time in RD's stories. His profound meaning stories in general take place in ordinary living, trivial episodes of everyday life which are real and close to every one. And this is happening in this musical tale. I do believe that if RD is still alive, he might include a gay teenager in one of his stories and portray him or her in a light and humane tone.

Frolic and carefree it appears to be with the circus, the colorful outfit, joyful songs and merry dances, exotic Greek customs, (By the way, when it comes to "Greek", the West always quotes "Zorbas", here is one example, the successful "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is another. However, there are myriads representations of "Greek" like "Troy", Greek gods, mythology blah blah blah. "Zorbas" may equate to common Greek people but it's overused, ah, kind of stale now. Nikos Kazantzakis might feel fed up too. ^-^ ), it is also rich in serious ideas. The inventor is trying to make a pill which converts people from evil to good, it's a big life issue, we all want "good" but how good is good and what is good? I just wonder why the scientist does not give the pill to Gerrit the burglar to try. He might totally break himself away from the stealing habit. Nature and nurture is another, Gerrit was raised by his grandpa, Opa to be a dexterous burglar in Oliver Twist like context, perhaps by nature he is a good boy as he promises not to steal so Nurse Klivia allows his stay. The Dutch open-mindedness is dominant throughout the film as Klivia and the neighbourhood (but Boordevol) do accept all kinds of the "weird" people in her nurse house and also foreigners like the Greeks who live nearby.

When Boordevol puts the sign board "Boordevol Rusthuis" (rest house) outside his house, it is so clear that his house is a sinister "No. 13" of that street, symbolically his house is a house of bad luck, evil. Funny handling. When the ending credit roller is running, a welcome reception to the then Princess Beatrix (in the 60's), the current Dutch Queen Regnant of the Oranje Nassau is in progress, she equals to the national recognition and acceptance to the work of the "Rest house", clever and heart-warming.

The small musical film though doesn't draw blockbuster attention like those of Chicago, Evita or even the good oldie My Fair Lady, it's a dainty gumdrop on the first day of my summer break. A sheer sweet fun for family viewing, don't let the gays and lesbians grab the entire joy and pleasure, it's rightly for every one. (Why a homo film????)

Today the DVD version of the movie was released in Holland and as a big fan I've just run through the DVD.

A simple, yet effective story line combined with the outstanding music and strong character play makes this an excellent movie for children.

A funny trivia about the movie is, that the movie almost had to be canceled, because the Red Cross organization was not happy with the use of the red cross on the clothing of the main character, Zuster Klivia. Luckily this dispute could be settled and you can see the Zuster with a retouched blue cross cap.

"Ja Zuster, Nee Zuster" originally was a series that ran in the mid sixties in Holland. It depended heavily on the excellent songs and certainly not on intriguing story lines. Because film tapes were expensive in the 60's, other material was recorded over it and for a long time all film material was believed to be lost. Yet in recent years some of the original material was rediscovered.

From this original material 15 songs were selected and added as a bonus to this DVD, making this DVD also a must have for older generations.

Happy comment on the 60-ties in the pre-hippie era, where everything had to be neat and tidy. The story is about a household ruled by a good and naive nurse that has to compete with a nasty neighbour. The film was made after the television series, that turned some characters' behaviour more into a running gag than a film is able to do. The original TV-series only remain to exist in the memory of people as the tape copies were reused and thus destroyed in the pre-VCR times. Based on the concepts of the series a new script was made with a simple storyline that makes up a nice base for singing (of the original songs) and dancing. Most of the songs are now classics by writer Annie M.G. Schmidt and composer Harrie Bannink, who both recently died. I think nevertheless that it is a very Dutch movie. Subtilties are harder to understand for outsiders. One other goof found. In the scene with the singing flight attendants, a model plane is used of a 747-400. It was introduced in 1988. Even a 747 is questionable as it wasn't launched until 1969 and KLM took it's first one into operation in 1971.

It's kind of funny, in America and other countries this movie is very popular by homosexual people (the DVD release there even has a pink cover), while in The Netherlands this movie is regarded as a children's movie based on a '60's almost entirely lost (tapes were too expensive in the '60's for the Dutch broadcasting stations that other material was recorded over the original tapes.) TV-series that was made for the entire family.

This movie is made in the same style as those campy, over-the-top American musical movies such as "Singin' in the Rain" and "An American in Paris". So fans of those types of movies will already be delighted by this movie. Further more this movie also reminded me of those old MGM comedies from the '30's and '40's.I have to admit that I'm not really a big fan of musicals. Why? Because normally a musical movie features about maybe 2 good songs and the rest is absolute fodder. I however enjoyed every musical number in "Ja zuster, nee zuster", not only because most songs are very well known old sing-along-songs written by Annie M.G. Schmidt and composer Harry Bannink but also because they have a very high fun-level. The musical numbers are so ridiculously over-the-top that they become fun to listen to and definitely watch at.

The story really isn't the most essential part of the movie. This is one of those movies that really don't need a story at all. This movie is all about the atmosphere and the characters that are in it. The typical '60's atmosphere this movie is set in is truly notable in the houses and their interiors and the characters are highly fun. Normally Dutch movies have the tendency to put as many as possible famous Dutch names in a movie as possible. The cast of "Ja zuster, nee zuster" mainly consists out of fairly unknown actors (with the exception of Loes Luca, Paul de Leeuw and some actors in small cameo roles) which I absolutely applaud.

Especially to you Americans, don't let the pink movie cover scare you off! I can assure you as a straight adult male person that this movie is good, clean, entertaining fun for the entire family.

9/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

I grew up with Ja Zuster Nee Zuster in the sixties in the Netherlands and to this day I still whistle many of the tunes from this brilliant children's program that aired '67/'68. The producers could have pumped in some extra money and 'hired' the Dam Square for their dance numbers, but they decided to keep it '67-campy and filmed it on a back lot. Many tongue-in-cheek references to that era: on the TV we see the baptism of Prince Willem Alexander, watch 'het Dafje' driving by, the winking picture of then Queen Juliana. The actors are acceptable, but I reminisce about the original performances by Leen Jongewaard, Hetty Blok and Wim Sonneveld. The current 'Nurse Klivia' does a mediocre 'Groningen' accent and mixes it with an Amsterdam accent. Hetty would cringe... . And yes, Annie M.G. Schmidt did write those lyrics to 'Fuchsia' on purpose. A final word: Please, please a P.C. Hooft Award for Annie. Posthumously, but NOW!