06/05

Nice dutch movie about conspiracy theory's considering the murder of Pim Fortuin. I think it's a good document for dutch viewers to re-live the events pre- and post six may 2001. The plot is pretty good, as we could expect from Ross but the acting is a little rough sometimes. Every time I see someone handling a gun in a dutch movie it seems strange to me. Only LEK succeeded in making that work (for me). It's definitely a movie a for many people in The Netherlands to see, especially because it's the last movie Theo van Gogh made before he was killed by a crazy SOAB. It's funny to see the voting on this movie. 38 When i'm writing this and about half votes it a 10 and the other half votes for a 1. That's an example of how this is still a subject in the dutch society and this might be compared to a dutch JFK. It's a pity van Gogh couldn't get actors that are the same quality as JFK or even find one that speaks proper English!

A shocking assassination of a controversial public figure, muddy, insufficient explanation, hence a logical ground for a conspiracy theories. If you add that the director of the movie gets murdered himself, soon after finishing this film,it all gets even more convoluted. Pim Fortuyn was labeled with the extremist labels, racism, intolerance, but he was much more complex person. An open homosexual, asking hard but not unfair questions. Without any answers or useful suggestions, he was smeared and easily dismissed. And shortly after killed. The movie is powerful, but little disjointed , as if the director wasn't sure himself of his intentions.

As a political statement, this is a failed attempt, I have to agree with others here. The ridiculous ending points towards lack of self respect and respect for the viewer. Maybe it was done out of trying not to take oneself too seriously, if this was so, then that's failed too. It fails to make clear that killing Fortuyn was in response to what left-wing politicians said, and that it was necessary for Volkert van der G. to do so.

The only support for the conspiracy theory which is sort of makes sense is the fact that VvdG was arrested so quickly. However, we have to remember that in conspiracy theories, you don't have to prove anything, the lack of proof is proof itself. Still, you might cling to that old who-dun-it meme: "Follow da money!" Who benefited from his death? The left? Not really, (or rather, really not) they were vilified at the elections, lost 50 percent of their seats in Parliament and they didn't recover until recently. The loony Right? Maybe, because they had a martyr, and they milked that cow until it had Mad Cow disease, too. The arms/JSF lobby? Hmmm, yes and no. The JSF has been the govts choice, but it's controversial, since Dutch defense industry didn't get any deals out of it, so the left can make the truthful case that we're being sucked dry by the Americans. The centre party, the Christian Democrats? They DID profit, electorally, they were seen as a sensible alternative to the opportunistic Fortuyn-party. But perhaps the ones who profited most were the 'sensible' right, the conservatives. Everyone agrees that it is the Iron Heel of THEIR political agenda which now rules the Netherlands ...

Technically, the film was good, some of the camera work was even very good. Sparse, not too much. The lead actor wasn't bad, but he mumbled too much for him to get Best Actor prize. Totally ridiculous was the casting of the daughter! Especially in the scenes with the father, sometimes HE looked younger, despite his beard,

I found it totally unbelievable that she was 15! She's pretty, she's a good actress, but looked too old. Most ridiculous, the scene in the pool/waterparadise. Embarrassing.

First off, let's all admit that this film would probably never had a chance to see a production budget of any kind before September 11th, 2001. Secondly, two of the main characters are westernized Muslims and in the film they drink alcohol, have a sexual affair, and wear regular clothes ( no hijab for the female character ). What all of that means, exactly, is something of a mystery to me.

Third, the story-telling in this film is far better than some of the other comments might indicate. Given that the fine DVD presentation requires the viewer to read subtitles for the parts given in other languages, which is about 98 per cent of the film, it all works real well. In my less-than-humble opinion, of course.

Apparently the Dutch secret service or spy agency does not believe in or perhaps does not need warrants to break into the homes of private citizens, and is not averse to random acts of vandalism, as well.

So, yes, the story is convoluted and to see this film without some basic back-grounding on the politics involved makes it a daunting task. On the other side, the principal actors mostly do a very fine job in their characterizations of real persons. The fact that the film ends without giving the viewer any kind of "in the face" explanation of who really killed the Dutch politician, Pym, does not make the story in any way irrelevant. Nor can any sensible person find anything racist in this intriguing drama. On the contrary, the Netherlands is presented as being a most tolerant place where natives and second-generation immigrants live next to each other and work together quite well.

It's a spy story and a murder story, after all, and it does provoke the viewer to ask ... who really wanted that fellow Pym to be killed ? The colorful, controversial life of Theo van Gogh, who was in life so very central to the creation of this film, is NOT the subject here.

The pacing and the direction were really rather good, and it is not a "slow-paced" film, but it is telling a rather convoluted story. Leading lady Tara Elders does a remarkable turn in a tough role, too, as the Muslim immigrant with a checkered past.

For my dollar two ninety-five, it was worth renting and worth viewing twice. The second time around the intrigue was much easier to grasp.

It is necessary to know something about the recent history of the Netherlands to get the full value of this production.

Well, I actually really liked it. Next to the tension this movie builds on, it has a very warm, very dutch, comforting seventies-based and natural feel to it. Despite of the actual storyline and the grim ideas behind it, I could understand where Theo was coming from when he wanted this to be made. Having lived the day when Pim Fortuyn got killed, and knowing the many unexplained details surrounding it, I think parts of the movie are terrifying in that they might very well be more true than most of us would like to believe. Just waving away the entire story as fiction somehow doesn't cut it for me. Knowing Theo Van Gogh quite well from local TV etcetera, I expected some hidden messages, telling us things beneath the surface of it all; They're not getting through to every viewer, but they're all over the place.

Theo shot this movie using the very fast 3-camera technique, giving it a documentary-like speed, which fits the writing. Some of the action scenes could have been done better (with a bigger budget perhaps), but aside from a few lesser moments (which didn't really bother me) the movie had me hooked, and the only thing I didn't like was that it ended. You know good guys can't always win, but you really want them to this time around. Even today, you'd like Pim and Theo to just re-appear on-screen like nothing had happened in our 'innocent' little country. It's hard to view the film not knowing the sickening story behind his killing, and it's even harder to notice how wrongfully he and Pim have been accused of being racist and right-wing extremists (or similar accusations). If anything, this movie is telling it like it is, and shows us how the exact opposite was true for both Pim and Theo.

The movie would have looked quite promising for Van Gogh, and still does for most of the actors in it. Theo was clearly getting better by the year, so it truly saddens me to see what could have been if he would still be alive. It's all been so silly, so stupid, so useless, and when you see this movie you want to snap out of reality, but you know you can't, because it is all so real...