Kulderzipken

Belgium, to put it VERY simply, mainly consists of a Dutch-speaking north called Flanders and a French-speaking south called Wallonia. Here we've got a series made by, and for, the Dutch-speaking north. It is a likeable series full of poetic nonsense and absurd humor, which mixes and reshuffles and subverts themes from fairytales.

The series doesn't take itself too seriously : the princess bride, for instance, is called "Prieeltje", which translates as "little gazebo", while the hero (a strapping young farmer catapulted into a life of high adventure) is called "Kulderzipken", which means nothing at all. The characters include creations like an invisible emperor addicted to cheese. His likeness contained in an encyclopedia is, logically enough, a complete blank : "A very faithful portrait !" Lovers of Belgian cinema will note that the role of King Joseph is played by the great Jan Decleir, one of the best actors of his generation. It is remarkable how Decleir, even when wearing ill-fitting robes and saying gibberish, strolls through his surroundings with all the power and charisma of a tiger strolling through the Indian jungle.

Much of the series' success is owed to Hugo Matthysen, a very funny (screen)writer with a liking for weird humor and nonsensical logic. (One of his stories, about The Man Behind Picasso, made me laugh so much that I nearly choked on a sandwich with fish paste. Aah, the memories !)

This is one of the best children series on Belgian television ever. It has very funny dialogue, great sets, beautiful costumes, amusing & inventive story lines and Belgium's best actors and actresses. It's not only a fairytale, it makes fun of other fairy tales too. Like when one of the two Gebroeders Grimm remarks that "the princess was poisoned by an apple" the other says that "apples are frequently used to poison people in fairy tales". Every story is basically about something that goes wrong in the castle, sometimes it's a trick the Devil's Mother plays (she lives together with her too-good-to-be-a-devil son in the castle's cellar), sometimes it's just someone who causes trouble. And always it's Kulderzipken who manages to save the day, but every time resulting in Koning Jozef not keeping his promise to make Kulderzipken a king. Because Kulderzipken is poor, he doesn't want him to marry his daughter, but in his heart he loves Kulderzipken as his son. The roles are played by Belgium's finest actors and actresses, and include a wide range of guest appearances, mostly actors and actresses you'd only see in serious roles, now giving the best of themselves in a fairytale character. Due to the humour that applied to children as well as adult, Kulderzipken was very popular and widely praised throughout Belgium.