De tranen van Maria Machita

The story in short: Maria Machita is a young girl with two sisters and two brothers, her father and mother died and she has to take care of them. She falls in love with a man that looks like her father. When they split up an old boyfriend shows up.... De tranen van Maria Machita is the third film of Paul Ruven. The film was rewarded several prizes, the prize of the city Utrecht, the Tuschinski Award and a Golden Calf for the best short Dutch film. The humor is at times a bit bizar and sort of cruel but very funny.

Although the film is made by a young student from the Dutch Film Academy, the film looks very professional.It is a little musical; even the dialogues are sung. First you think it is a boring tear-jerker, but soon you realize that the film is made with a lot of nice humor, fine songs and a good story. There are several good scenes in the picture. The film starts very threatening, especially for a little chicken to be flattened under a pair of boots. Ellen ten Damme seems to play an innocent girl, that is surprised by the cruelty of life, but she also has a naughty defiant look in her beautiful eyes and her fat wink after the credits you wont easily forget.