Karakter

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!

This is one of the best movies that I've seen till now. I was reluctant at first to see this movie, because it was not a "Hollywood" product, but after so many times seeing the trailer at the theater it picked my curiosity.

The story was set in Netherlands, and it develops unfolding the relationship between a father and his son. This was one of the best movies I've seen in a long time, because it touches the bottom of our hearts making thinking us (the public) about our own -sometimes- conflictive relations with our parents.

The two main stars gave us a duel as I've never saw before in a film, and to top all of this, the supporting characters were all believable as well as the magnificent locations.

This films really told a story, reflects well its age and overall has a well developed timing so you'll never lose interest in what is next, and has so many twists that your interest never decays. But I really liked the final one. This one only scene pays all the money and time you spent seeing it.

OUTSTANDING!!

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.

In the 20's, in Netherlands, Jacob Willem Katadreuffe (Fedja van Huêt) has just concluded the law school and has an argument with the High Court Enforcement Officer Dreverhaven (Jan Decleir) at his office. Katadreuffe leaves the place covered in blood. On the next morning, he is arrested by the police for the murder of Dreverhaven. He claims that he is innocent and discloses the story of his life to the Chief of Police.

His mother Joba (Betty Schuurman) was the maid at Dreverhaven. One night, she is raped by him and a couple of weeks later she learns that she is pregnant. Dreverhaven proposes to marry her but Joba quits her job and leaves his house. Along the years, Katadreuffe is bullied at school and called bastard by his mates and his mother never talks to him. One day, he is involved by other kids in a theft of bread and arrested by the police. When he calls his biological father to help him, Dreverhaven tells the police that he does not know who Katadreuffe is. The boy is intelligent and learns English reading a superseded and incomplete edition of encyclopedia that was left behind by the previous tenants of his apartment. Katadreuffe is also ambitious and asks for a job in a law office, where he becomes the protégé of his mentor De Gankelaar (Victor Löw). Soon he falls in unrequited love with the secretary Lorna Te George Victor (Tamar van den Dop). Along the years, Dreverhaven uses his power to harm him. When he concluded his course, he decides to pay a visit to Dreverhaven to tell him that he has wined their dispute. May Katadreuffe have killed Dreverhaven?

"Karakter" is a dark film about a young man needy of fatherly love. The intercourse between his parents is never clear whether it was a rape, as per the trailer, or consensual sex. In the view of Katadreuffe, his mother has always been "mute". But maybe it could be a trauma for her only intercourse since she is a stubborn woman. Dreverhaven is a mysterious and ambiguous character. Is he only cruel or is he trying to harden his son to face the challenges of the brutal society where they live and be a winner? The screenplay is very well-written and keeps the attention of the viewer until the last scene. The cinematography, set decoration and art direction are perfect and bring the viewer to Netherlands in the middle 20's. The cast has magnificent performance highlighting Jan Decleir. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Caráter" ("Character")

is a real shame that this kind of movies have to be discovered 3 or 4 years since the release (most dont find their way to theaters) i know that people in the entertainment business are in just for the sake of money, but if they dont want to invest in producing quality movies (books,music etc) at least have to be more open in let these great movies have a decent distribution in the states.