User reviews

This movie is about a brass band in the fictional place of Brederwiede. When they want to compete in a competition the band splits up in two, because the two lead men in the band can't agree on the music. Both of them go to the narrator, who is the most intelligent person in town. He composes two separate pieces of music which at the competition will become one piece of music. Very clever done! There is also a love story in this movie: the boy and girl are both children of one of the band leaders. Highlight of the movie is the competition itself when the two pieces of music are combined by a planned coincidence. I saw this film before the very funny Brassed Off. It has got similarities and makes watching these movies even more fun.

In "Fanfare" two rival cafe bosses cause a split of the local brass band. The animosity between the two ensuing brass bands quickly gets out of hand.

"Fanfare" is situated in the fictional village of Lagerwiede which in reality is Giethoorn. Giethoorn is a small place in the North of Holland where canals in stead of roads are the most important traffic-infrastructure. Director Bert Haanstra makes effective use of this in a visual gag when two cows are passing each other without moving, as if on an assembly line. When the camera zooms out it turns out that both cows are standing on small vessels sailing through the canal.

In between the two competing clans is an engaged couple, adding a kind of "Romeo and Juliet" element to the story. This element is however very benign and with a much happier ending.

All in all the mood of the film is very innocent and characteristic of the 50s in Holland. In those days Holland was very law abiding. The mayor of Lagerwiede is seen as a sort of father figure and the villagers are portrayed as sort of frolic but in essence benevolent children.

For director Bert Haanstra "Fanfare" was his debut feature length film and in Holland it was an instant success, to be surpassed only by "Turkish delight" (1973, Paul verhoeven). For an international audience Haanstra may be more well known as the writer of the Tati production "Traffic" (1971). A year later Haanstra would make the documentary "Instinct for survival" (1972). In this documentary human behaviour is compared with the behaviour of animals. In "Fanfare" Haanstra already shows his fascination with this subject. Behaviour of the characters (for example argueing vehemently) is frequently compared to the behaviour of the ducks in the canals (for example chattering loudly).

I had seen this movie years (like 30+) ago and thought it was excellent. Now that it's available on DVD it's a great addition to my (international) collection. I would even go as far as saying that this might be the best Dutch movie ever made, or at least the best comedy. The story is about a typical 50's village and it's inhabitants. Adding to the small town quarrels is the use of water. As most people will know a large part of the Netherlands is below sea level. So is this village. No roads but canals. Maximum use is made of this. Even the ducks play a part.

The DVD comes with the Oscar-winning short film 'Glas'. And for those who don't master the Dutch language: The DVD provides English subtitles. !