Van God Los

Despite the fact that I'm Dutch myself, I don't enjoy Dutch movies very often. Maybe it's because I grew up with (mostly) American movies or it's just because the Dutch movies aren't so good. Especially the acting is often far below the level of American or other foreign movies. It's just not convincing.

This movie however displays a high level of acting. Especially the part played by Tygo Gernandt (Maikel Verheije) is very good. You can literally see the adrenaline in his eyes from time to time.

The story is about a boy (Stan) who's having a boring life and is looking for some action. By coincidence he meets Maikel. Everybody knows he's a criminal but Stan sees an adventure ahead of him. And so they become 'partners in crime'. Maikel has another partner (Sef) with who Stan doesn't go along quite well.

During a robbery they 'accidentally' kill someone and when the local mafia gets to know it. They offer them a job to kill several people for them. As they get more jobs they loose their grip on reality.

The story of the movie is good but what makes the movie better than other Dutch movies is the acting. So there's still hope for the future of the Dutch movies. (8/10)

I've seen quite a lot of movies, also quite some Dutch ones. Most of them suck quite heavily or are far too commercial, therefore i didn't expect much from Van God Los. But i was wrong.

The movie is very catchy, as it is being told from the perspective of Stan, a young Gymnasium student, who dislikes school and is mostly found being out on the streets. His parents don't care for him much, so he is quite left alone. Then he meets Maikel and they become very close friends. They start with some small illegal businesses, but end up being hired killers.

The story being told from a main character perspective, with commenting on Stan's thoughts, is quite unusual for Dutch movies and almost gives it a Hollywood feeling, with links to movies like the Godfather series. This makes the movie very impressive and really gets you into the main character and his feelings.

When the movie ended, i almost felt the urge of applauding for it, but since the entire cinema was silent, so was i. It was clear to see that this movie made a great impression on all viewers, it was a long time ago i heard so little noise when all people left their seats. This movie is in my opinion already a (Dutch) classic! A must see!

To start off; i liked this film, particularly Tygo Gernandt's acting was plainly brilliant. The sorry thing about dutch films is, that mainly stage actors appear in dutch productions. Obviosously dutch directors find it very difficult to direct acclaimed theater actors, let alone telling them that stage acting(e.g. articulation and exaggerated physical expression) is a big no-no film acting. The southern dutch accent is very well performed by Tygo en Egbert, however most of the other actors 'slip back' to a pathetic attempt, particularly the ( here I go again) stage actors. The directing and the editing of this movie were very undutch and therefor very strong, the acting however........ three great actors can never compensate 10 mediocre to sloppy actors. Conclusion: A more dedicated and disciplined director combined with a less conservative casting director could have lifted this flick to a higher level and in the process would have put dutch film-making on the map.

Really nice movie!! I saw this movie yesterday and I really enjoyed it. The movie starts a bit slow but after the introduction of the characters it really becomes a good story. We see the story through the eyes of Stan Meijer who gets the wrong friends. They start with little crimes, but once they get hired by the Turkish mafia the crimes get bigger and bigger. Go see this movie!!

At first i was drawn in when i heard it was about a gang of teenage killers - based on a true story. The story is quite raw, sometimes a bit shocking. Excellent acting from Egbert Jan Weeber, who plays the lead role of Stan. The movie is quite depressing at times though. Van God Los ( or Godforsaken) is about three teenage boys who begin to kill before for the mafia boss - this is where the "Godfellas" part comes in. I didn't think this movie was mind-blowing or amazing. It was an okay movie ; i thought the acting was great. Some scenes in the film are very violent, and it's shocking to see how out of control they get, especially the character Maikel - in various scenes in the movie - especially near the end ! I thought there would've been a better ending though - it was unpredictable, which is always interesting.