Max Havelaar

Fons Rademakers is a Dutch director known for his adaptations of Dutch literature. Earlier I already wrote reviews about his films "The dark room of Damocles" (1963) and "The assault" (1986). With "Max Havelaar" he adapts one of the icons of Dutch literature.

"Max Havalaar" was written in 1860 and is about the Dutch colonial government in Indonesia. It has strong autobiographical elements as the writer Eduard Douwes Dekker has been a civil servant in the Dutch East Indies himself. One of the purposes of the book is to find rehabilitation for injustices Douwes Dekker believes were done to him during his career. He published the book under the pseudonym "Multatuli", latin for "I suffered a lot". This personal motive does not harm however the literary value of the novel.

"Max Havelaar" is a multi faceted book. It covers the following topics.

The way the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies was organized.

The way native princes collaborated with the Dutch government producing an intimately intertwined system of exploitation of the population.

A story within a story about this population featuring the boy Saïdjah and the girl Adinda.

The hypocrisy of Dutch traders in oriental spices, interpreting exploitation as development aid and beleiving it themself, as represented by the character of "Droogstoppel" (dry stubble).

A description about the essential element of bureaucracy as not including bad news in official reports because later you could be held accountable for not doing anything about it. This discription of bureaucracy is surprisingly topical for a novel from 1860!

The movie does not (and could not) treat al these elements. It is above all the story of a good Dutch civil servant (Max Havelaar played by Peter Faber), who tries to protect the native population, and a bad native prince (Adipati played by Adendu Soesilaningrat), who exploits the people. The other elements of the story are hinted at at best. The hypocrisy of Droogstoppel is magnificently illuminated by church services (with very hypocritical preaching) at the beginning and the end of the film.

For the Dutch film industry "Max Havelaar" is on the crossroad of the careers of two prominent Dutch directors. Fons Rademakers, the director of this film, was in the later stages of his career. Paul Verhoeven was the upcoming director at that time. Verhoeven himself was not involved with "Max Havelaar", but some people who would later become his regular "crew" were. I can mention scenario writer Gerard Soeteman, actor Rutger Hauer and cinematographer Jan de Bont. Nevertheless the film is "signature" Rademakers. The scene in which Havelaar saves a dog out af the sea with sharks nearby or the scene in which a native prince tries to blackmail a Dutch civil servant using beautiful young native dancing girls would have been done much more spicy by Verhoeven.

In my opinion, this is one of the most powerful, beautiful and magnificent movies ever made, on every possible level: the way the story has been adapted from the book, to its incredible cinematography, character depiction, and the sensitive awareness of the complexities in the situation it describes, i.e., the finally brutal Dutch colonizing of Indonesia.

The contrasts between the beauty of the islands and its people with the horror of the disastrous situations brought on by the Dutch, are enormously moving and emotionally wrenching. Be careful about seeing it: it may change your life, as the book it was based on started to change Holland's awareness of the price, to themselves and the people of the islands, of its exploitation of these defenseless peoples. Never seen anything better, really.

"Max Havelaar" is a 19th century novel about the Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia - specifically, about one man's fight against the oppressive, bureaucratic and inhuman nature of the Dutch/Indonesian rule in the poor province of Lebak. The novel is (rightfully) considered one of Holland's most enduring and powerful works of literature; Fons Rademaker's 1976 cinema adaptation, however, has been largely forgotten.

This is a shame. While the script is ponderous and the pacing definitely not for the impatient, it is a haunting movie thanks to its big star: beautiful Indonesia itself, one of the most lush, mysterious places on earth. Beautifully photographed by Jan "Speed" de Bont, you can practically feel the tropical heat emerge from your screen... And to see the fair-skinned Dutch try to make sense of this environment makes you wonder how they built this empire in the first place. The recreation of the 19th century is also very well done - you can tell the budget must have been unusually high for a Dutch film of this period.

In any case, my advice is to sit through it, maybe in 3 sessions. I'd recommend "Max Havelaar" in particular for anyone interested in Indonesian history and culture.

I was able to rent the DVD of this film from a place in Portland, Oregon. They had a copy of the original and seemed to believe the film had been placed in the public domain, available to be copied. You might want to check on that yourself. If that is true, it could be that you would be able to purchase a copy yourself. I'm not sure how the law of public domain applies to films created the 1980's since I would imagine the copyright would have been renewed somehow by 2008. Does anyone else have information regarding this?

I had not heard of this film before visiting this rental place but was looking for the films of Verhoeven when I stumbled on this one directed by Fons Rademakers. It seemed especially apropos since both my parents were Dutch-Indonesian and their parents were part of the latter days of Dutch colonial culture. It wasn't until Indonesian independence that my grandparents were persuaded to leave that beautiful land for the rainy gloomy weather of the Netherlands. After 25 years in the humid summers and bitter winters of Detroit, I ended up in Portland, where the weather is much more like Holland. Go figure!

in making this film, rademaker opened up old dutch colonial wounds, dormant except for the novel, helped promote a good NGO cause, & exposed native corruption that continues into present indonesia. the max havelaar foundation was ahead of its time in promoting fair trade & continues to take a leadership role today. in the film, havelaar represents the idealist side of both dutch colonial rule & protestant ethos in the face of corruption & hypocrisy toward that global enterprise. aside from a brilliant film, powerful scenery & location, excellent acting, rademaker wove the narration close to the well-known novel. appropriate for its time,this film fits well with European self-examination of its colonial past, resonates with pontecorvo's burn/queimada, a masteropiece of duplicity & brando at his prime!