Karakter

In this film we are confronted with a perfect script if there ever was one! Once again, talented screenwriters have proved that a fine novel can be transformed into a great film, without losing any depth in philosophical understanding or psychological subtlety. In 'Character', the paired tension between pride and guilt, as well as between pride and love, or guilt and love, or love and power, gives birth to an astounding and magnificent lesson in human character and behavior. The fact that Mike van Diem and Laurens Geels, two of the film's three writers, were at the same time -respectively- its director and producer, plays no small role in the success of the script, since the novel by Bordewijk was read -and rewritten- from the perspective of cinema, and not the other way around. The psychological themes are treated as variations in a symphony, presented in one of the characters and later developed in another, or presented in one form and then transmuted into another, as the brilliant treatment given to the self-destructive tendencies in the Dreverhaven character, or the extreme laconism in the mother-son relationship. Seen at a tropical country as Ecuador (my own), surrounded by a teenage audience that was led to expect something else; an audience which was only very slowly won by the tense and restrained 'northern', 'iceberg' pace of the film, 'Character' transformed the screen into a gigantic and painful mirror filled with reflections of the sorrows and sufferings of human nature. And finally those teenagers stopped crunching chips and sipping sodas, and started thinking. A '10' by any standard.

Many people describe the movie as distant and cold. But that's exactly what the makers were aiming for to stay congruent with the 2 novels of Bordewijk where Karakter / Character is based upon. Bordewijk's style is often described as Nieuwe Zakelijkheid (best translation: New Objectivity, think Sinclair Lewis), a counter movement to the upcoming Expressionism in the 20s of the last century. Instead of the idealism of Expressionists more emphasis was put on reality, objectivity and facts in a sober and distant form with little room for frivolity, superficial beauty, sentimentality or explaining behavior. Not only does the style of the novels reflect this, the world the characters inhabit has the same characteristics. Viewed from this standpoint they made an amazing adaptation from a novel, correct in both style and content. But the movie defines more than an art movement, because the characters portrayed tell a lot about the Dutch in general, and this in a way also defines Dutch national identity.

The story itself is about perseverance. Jacob is the son of a relation without love. His parents never marry, the mother leaves soon after she finds out she is pregnant. His mother is stubborn, his father a man without compassion working as a bailiff. Both parents push their son in their own way, his mother almost drives him out of her home, his father lends him money thus starting a battle over the upper hand in their relationship. The father brings adversity to his son in the hope to make him stronger. In line with the style of the novel none of the characters ever experience love. In fact the whole movie contains not one passionate scene. The only character showing emotion (De Gankelaar, an excellent role played by Victor Löw) leaves the country. It has a Nietzschian philosophical angle with the debate of lightness and weight: Jacob's burdens give his life a meaning, but are the sacrifices worth it?

Location scouts did a wonderful job here, because Karakter recreates pre-war Rotterdam, a city almost totally flattened by the Nazis (There is a harrowing photo of the city after the bombardments with only the main church still standing). The production and art departments made the sets with their darkish colors fitting the form and content of the movie. The camera is used in a way to create some fluidity in the scenes: It almost never is static as with so many character dramas.

Fedja van Huêt as Jacob and Jan Decleir as Dreverhaven seem to understand what's going on here and act accordingly. Tamar van den Dop as Lorna is probably the greatest weakness in the movie, with a terrible diction and limited body movement she's miscast here.

Mike van Diem makes only one movie, wins an Oscar, and disappears almost from the earth. Although rumor has it he does some script doctoring in Hollywood, with his current production rate he will surpass even Malick. As for now, this is by far the best Dutch movie ever made.

Character is one of the best period films I have ever seen, and the enormous quantity of very interesting aspects in it make it worth watching.

I saw this film with the natural curiosity that a best foreign film Academy Award arouses in many people, and I was really delighted and surprised (Altough, I must admit I had hoped Spain's Secrets of the Heart would win). The story is quite beautiful, and Mike van Diem created a very solid screen play based on well known Ferdinand Bordewijk's novel.

The film has some extraordinary moments; I must say that the one that impressed me most was the final scene of the film, a scene of great visual impact and also of an incredibly big narrative content; it is the scene that reveals the mystery behind the cruel A.B. Dreverhaven's behaviour.

The performances given out in this film are simply spectacular especially Jan Decleir's as Dreverhaven. I also think Betty Schuurman as Jacob's mother and Victor Löw as De Gankelaar are terrific. One more thing, the art design is beautiful; the image the film gives us of the 1930's Amsterdam is very powerful and very beautiful.

Not only is it a great film then, but it is a story that carries a lot of feelings, and will take you on quiet an emotional ride. I can only say this: enjoy it!

It's no wonder that this Dutch drama got the 1997 Academy Award for the best foreign country movie in the year of "Titanic". It tells the rise-and-fall-story of a young man in the Netherlands of the 1920's who's working hard to escape from the ghetto and to become an idealistic lawyer. Unfortunately his brutal an tyrannic father fights against him in any possible way, and at the end father and son are facing in a hard fight for life and death.

The story is great, the characters (sic!) of the plot even more, and the acting is pure adrenaline-driven. The whole atmosphere, supported by the dark filming locations of Amsterdam, Belgium, Germany (the Speicherstadt in Hamburg) and Poland, is disturbing and depressing. A great psycho drama and insight into the human psyche with a powerful performance by Jan Decleir as villain Dreverhaven that can easily compete with Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal Lecter movies!

Karakter is quite stunning on several levels. The cinematography is gorgeous - without the use of any noticeable special effects or surrealistic dream sequences. The quality of the filming surpasses that of most movies.

One of the best things for me (as an American) about watching foreign films is not knowing who most of the actors are, and this makes it easier to completely accept them as the characters they play. The two leads were outstanding, and the supporting characters (particularly Betty Schuurman as Joba, and Nans Kesting as Jan Maan) were very effective.

I found the story to be engrossing and - more than anything, the pacing amazed me. A person accustomed to reading classic novels would probably appreciate the way this film unfolded. There is a desire to reach the end, but no hurry.

For sure, this film wouldn't interest everyone, but I rank it among my favorite films. It deserved to win the Academy Award for Best Picture last year: for the story, for the performances, for the direction ... it's rare that one finds a movie so well-put together.