Doodslag

It is a drama film produced in 2012. As a main idea, it tells about immigrant problems and the problems caused by immigrants through the experiences of an ambulance driver. At the same time, it explains the phenomenon of exclusion and psychological collapse quite well.

Yes, there is an ambulance driver. He goes to respond to emergencies with a young female first aid doctor next to him. Over time, the man becomes attracted to the woman. The woman is of Moroccan origin. She cannot accept his exclusion. On the way to another problematic birth case, a group of people stop the ambulance. There is an injured young man. The doctor checks his condition and tells him to go to the hospital. The group is bullying the injured person into taking him into the ambulance. And when the driver gets out to warn the man, he punches someone when he is attacked and continues on his way to make an emergency call. The young man he punched while saving the baby during an emergency call dies. And problems begin for the man.

There is some sexuality in the movie. But there is no nudity.

Regardless the mediocre acting and cinematography, my prime concern about this movie is the way it portrays the current happenings in the Dutch society, in the hopes of inciting more debate about topics that are already heavily discussed.

I cringed at the scene where Max (an ambulance driver), under pressure of feeling to have to act out against the (unfortunately all too customary) hindrance of and violence against public service personnel, lashed out against a bystander who tried to calm his friend and Max down during a verbal quarrel that resulted because of a group of youth purposely obstructing the ambulance from reaching a woman in labour. This is ridiculous and a perfect example of how politically laden this movie is. There is one particular group of people, with a certain ethnicity that is particularly notorious for the aforementioned obstructive behaviour with regards to public services (and has come under fire for this) and what this film is trying to make clear here is that we should refrain from thinking in black and white (which I agree with), but this entire situation does not reflect reality, at all.

There can be no debate about this: Max deserves to be trialled for manslaughter – he used violence, regardless his motives, against someone who was actually trying to calm things down. This is however, completely unrealistic! I know this from experience and from people who have had jobs at public services. It would've been different, if the people who obstructed the ambulance had attacked Max first, and then Max would have been on trial for manslaughter (and sentenced, which unfortunately happens a lot, as well), which would have made more sense, would have actually reflected reality and relates directly to the debate about how and to what extent people should be able to defend themselves.

This film screams: "you Dutch people are xenophobic and racist and should stop judging people from certain ethnicities". Another horrible example of this is the remark of one of the bystanders, in another instance during which the ambulance personnel is hindered, at Max' co- driver (who happens to be Muslim, but is as Dutch as can be) that "Mecca is that way.". I am ashamed of this atrocity of leftist propaganda that sketches a twisted image of what is happening in the poorer, urban parts of our country (namely the continuous harassment of citizens by people of a certain ethnicity and their continuous perpetration of criminal offenses) for the people who live their lives happily in their ivory towers of the middle and upper class.

In Dutch: deze film slaat de plank volledig mis.

Very intelligent movie with the art film moments. Excellent acting, very good European camera school, good editing. Can't find anything bad about it. Casting was superb and actor who plays Max was just made for this role. Great drama and hard social question about the world we live in with the pretty critical answer suggested. Moral dilemmas in the world without moral are turning against our hero. Then, heroism is relative and changeable in time but money stays the main master. Power of mass control presented by the character of an evil showman looks exactly as the world we live in controlled and operated by mass media. It twists and turns the public opinion when needed and by that controls the moral values by its material needs and not by the need for true. What happens to an honest man as Max in such world is getting lost and then losing himself. Very intelligent portrait of the modern world moral values versus a good man. And one more thing: the movie is definitely not a thriller.

'Doodslag' (which translates to Manslaughter) tells us the story of Max, a veteran ambulance-driver who gets driven to mental breakdown. The build up of the story is quite fast, and after some minor incidents showing Max getting disrespected and even made fun of on national television by a famous comedian it eventually leads up to the unintended death of a young street thug. On their way to a emergency delivery Max (and his new colleague (Amira, portrayed by Maryam Hassouni)get stopped by a group of street youth when their friend had a accident and has superficial headinjuries. The tension builds up, and with all the stress Max has to cope with he snaps, hits one of the guys who falls on the curb and dies on the spot. Max is sent to prison for one year, but it doesn't stop there. The friends of the street thug are bound for vengeance, and start threatening and harrasing him. In the mean time the comedian that made fun of him earlier finds himself feeling sorry for his actions, and hires Max as his personal driver.

I found this movie to be very intelligent and uncomprimizing. This film shows the degrading of society (emergency personell frequently get harassed in the Netherlands these days) but it does not judge whether Max is a criminal or a hero. The Maassen reprises a strong role (after his first movie: TBS) and I think no other Dutch actor can portray such a dark and gritty character. Maryam Hassouni also portrays an excellent role as Amira and I also see a bright future for her acting career as well.

I also find the directing very good, I am only guessing why the 2nd chapter is in black and white. The only reason I can think of is some 'artsy' addition or something. The soundtrack is also very good, and fits the film very well.

Overall I would say this is a must see, and another gem of Dutch cinematography. These don't come around very often.

9/10

It's hard to write a review about such a relevant movie. "Why?" is the question that will enter your mind probably. Well, when you write a review about a relevant movie with themes so important in this time, you want to make sure you don't criticize the theme's but the movie.

Theo Maassen, whom is most of all one of the best comedian's the Lower lands has, plays this movie with finesse and touching realness. This is a hard movie. Not only does it depict reality very accurately. this reality is a reality without solutions, it's a reality with hard decisions, choices and dilemmas. Theo Maassen fits perfectly in this harsh dark world. No one else, and i really mean no one else could 've played this role better. no American, no Johnny Depp, No Elijah Wood, no dutch, nor American actor which i know. Now, you might have detected i'm a big fan of Theo Maassen. True. it might not be objective at all. But his acting is so fine, so detailed and filled with doubt I don't believe any other actor could do this. Mainly because Maassen plays this like a person, like a really human being, overwhelmed with reality.

Besides the wonderful acting of Maassen, also Gijs van Scholten Aschat plays his role as a comedian (a role which Theo plays in real life) to the point. Almost like it's real. It's a Dutch movie, you can see that. Now don't get me wrong, i'm not a superb film critic, i haven't seen "all" dutch movies nor a lot non American/British but this movie really has a dutch taste. The grimness, the hard themes it depicts and the uneasiness that crawls up under your chair are astonishing. The image is raw. The acting is raw. The story is raw. The decisions made in this movie are raw. So far for style, it deserves a fat 10.

Now about this themes. As we know from American movies they can really solve problems right? This movie doesn't solve. It poses questions. Now for that fact it could 've still been some art like fancy documentary. The good thing about this movie is that it doesn't just pose questions it asks questions which have no answer. These questions are a logical event of occurrences and don't ask for an "opinion" they just are. The way the characters deal with them are completely understandable but not predictable. Not at all. No spoilers. The themes are very relevant for our society. The questions are important not for people who work in hospitals or drive ambulances. On one hand it reminds us that all our media, and the ones that use it, should watch their mouth. It reminds us that saying "act normal" is easier said than done. It reminds our street kids to watch out who you bother and our "normal people" that sticky situations are easily created and hard to solve.

I actually wanted to write that this is not a movie for "normal people" but that's not what this is about. This is a movie without compromising, a movie without understandable questions, without happy ending, without answers, without solutions, without a shine on reality. Definitely a European movie. Definitely not for the ones who like easygoing happy endings. Ex-Drummer is the only movie i can compare this one with. but this one has a political tone. Starting with the first shot we get: a Quote from our prime minister saying "We need to win our society back from the bad guys". Well, after the first few minutes you already understand that this is not as easy as it sounds. Who are these bad guys? Bad guys apparently all have reasons to be one. These reasons are created by situations. This is a movie showing how bad guys are created. Unintentionally.

This is probably one of the best Dutch movies I've ever seen. If you cant' see it in cinemas, buy it. If you can't? Download it. it's to important to not see. Check it out!