Os do Norte

I think this is the first of Warmedam that I have seen, but I immediately want more.

How wonderfully well Marlies plays the spoiled brat who pushes her staff to the limit and humiliates them.

Over the course of the film you discover that there is more to it in terms of relationship and family and the story takes a somewhat unexpected turn.

I think it was a twist that was a bit disappointing in terms of ending, but I thought the film as a whole was successful.

I actually expected that eventually someone from the staff would blow the fuse, but that turned out differently, a plot twist that left me with some mixed feelings.

This is a great little film, by turns funny, surreal, with a couple of scary moments (especially with the vulture on the bed, the crazy bird from the shoulder of the monk statue, and after the hunter is blinded, searching the forest).

Parts are reminiscent of Delicatessen (rebellious postman, mad butcher) and others are straight out of a grimm fairy tale (the scenes in the woods), however it is always engaging and well-acted. Although I think Dutch people will get more from the socio-historic context of the story, I think everyone can identify with the mixed-up lives of "ordinary people" in small, soulless towns. Weird!

Alex van Warmerdam is one of the very few Dutch directors whose films I can bear to watch. He has created a number of very good absurdistic movies (Abel, de Noorderlingen, de Jurk, kleine Teun), of which I liked de Noorderlingen best; its weird scenes are evidence of a wonderfully imaginative and free mind. Van Warmerdam has something of a voyeur, a trait which influences all his movies; what better setting could he choose than a hideously Dutch, `modern' village where all the people are continually spying on each other through their large front windows. Yet if you expect that all magic would have disappeared from such surroundings, think again.... there are fairies in the woods nearby and one inhabitant turns out to be holy.

I can tell you from personal experience that there exist Dutch people with a sense of humour, but if you don't believe me be sure to go and watch this movie.

"The Northerners" (1992) is the second feature length movie of Alex van Warmerdam after "Abel" (1986).

It is never a simpel task to give a follow up to a successful debut, and "The Northerners" is no exception. It is vintage van Warmerdam, but in my opinion "Abel" was the better movie.

In "The Northerners" there are a lot of weird characters in a very clear and sober environment.

This environment consists in a just build but not quite ready district (the film is situated in the early 60's when the reconstruction after the Second World War was not yet finished) on the one side and a nearby forest on the other side.

The set pieces that shape this environment are in my opinion the strongest point in the film. In the district there is a lot of social control and keeping up appearances. The forest is much more mysterious. In the forest the unconscious motivations of the characters get the upper hand.

I already said that "The Northerners" lacks the quality of "Abel". The main reason is that the (weird) characters are causing a lot of seperate funny incidents, but the film lacks an overall storyline.

There is the situation of a man being sexually frustrated because his wife becomes a religious fanatic and a woman being sexually frustrated because her man's infertility has made him afraid of sex. This situation has storyline potential, but van Warmerdam makes no optimal use of it.

When you're watching an Alex van Warmerdam movie you know you're to get something interesting and unusual. He always fills his films with a large amount of surrealism but at the same time knows to keep his films accessible and watchable for the main stream public. It might very well be true that this movie is his best known and most appreciated movie.

It's not the type of movie with a clear point or purpose but this doesn't prevent this movie from being simply an enjoyable one to watch. This movie is mostly so fun to watch due to its many eccentric characters and unusual settings.

The entire movie is set in an housing development, that consists out of one long street, without pavement on the road, with a school and butcher shop. At the end of the road there is a bus-stop and an artificial planted small forest. This is their entire world. It's set in the '60's, which of course also gives the movie a certain atmosphere but really this movie could had also easily been set in modern time and it just wouldn't make that much different to the story or any of its characters.

The movie is filled with lots of eccentric characters. Every characters has somethings strange or unusual around him or her, some more extreme than others. It are mostly this quirky little aspects about each and every character that makes this movie such a fine comedy, since its not a movie with an awful lot amount of dialog and its also a rather slow moving movie, with long stretched shots.

The movie features some fine Dutch actors, though it seems sort of weird that the best and best known actors play insignificant supporting roles in the movie, such as Loes Luca and Jacques Commandeur. Jack Wouterse is a well known actor now but back in 1992 no one had ever heard of him and this also was one of his first ever roles. The most fun role is being played by Theo van Gogh, as Fat Willy, who constantly rides on his moped and terrorizes the street with it. I've always liked him better as an actor than as a director, or anything else. Like always, also Alex van Warmerdam plays a role in the movie and so does his wife, actress Annet Malherbe.

It's true that the movie sort of looses it as it heads more and more towards its end but overall this movie remains perfectly watchable throughout- and above all also really fun to watch.

7/10

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