This film gets shat on by just about anyone, from yokels who don't understand what is going on, to fanatic types from both parts of the political (and mental) spectrum and that is partially justified, it's not a very reactionary film and badly acted at times. Now I certainly had my doubts about this film the first moment I started watching, I thought it was just awkward. I was expecting something...

This "documentary" isn't low quality, it's just more of a historical soap-opera, then a serious history lesson and that is a sad waste for what could have been a more serious documentary series, you think it is aimed at kids, but I am sure the lefties where aiming for all ages. On the wokeness scale, this entire series is more 20th century progressive, then full-blown woke, in the first episode, the...

A slow and slightly boring comedic-drama, about a Dutch family who wants to emigrate to Australia, a genuine time-capsule, there was a lot of Dutch emigrants after the war. Also interesting is Australia's take on the kind of immigrants they want, to paraphrase the man giving the introductory talk: "we are not making propaganda, we are not telling people Australia is some kind of paradise, we are only...

Now as a Dutchman, what I just watched is honestly something I would never expect to see in Dutch politics, Biden is 81, Trump is 78, meanwhile Hiddema who was a Dutch politician for the FvD, was 72 and he was considered old for a politician, he didn't lead the FvD, he was just one of their main spokespersons, he was highly intelligent and articulate, but this American presidential debate is frankly...

I watched this film with embedded Dutch subtitles, which are literally the same as the Flemish spoken in this film, but occasionally a word is different. Why anyone would bother doing this is beyond me.... but alright. Anyway, just like Joep Meloen, which I reviewed a while back, this is another comedy film build around a stand-up comedian, in this case it's the Flemish counterpart to Van Duin, namely...

This is a great example of a Dutch "Heimat" film and I am using the German term because it has some traction in English, based on a book I have no yet read, but seeing how it lead to two films, I am going to keep my eyes open if I ever browse a second-hand store again. One first note, there is very little about this film that is saccharine or light-hearted, there is some humor in it, but it mostly...

Karakter is a small, but still popular novel written by F. Borderwijk, a well-known, but not always great writers from the Netherlands, I have read some of his other works in the past and did not much care for them, but Karakter I did enjoy and it still has some popularity. How does this film compare to the book? Well, in one sense favorably, my greatest problem with the novel, is that the main character...

A good example of a film that would have reached some cult-film status, if it was produced for an English audience, in staid this film is Dutch and is considered a major flop locally. Does this film deserve this? Yes, it's just a really dumb film, with a stupid plot and very little humor. The plot is basically, a bunch of scientist, inject a seal with human sperm in order to create a devolved fish...

This gives a very well done view, at what goes on behind the scenes at an aviation company back in the 50's, it's not cheaply done or generic, it genuinely feels like you are watching an engineer going through the motion of proving his hypothesis about, metal fatigue in a new line of aircraft. Further more, it's well acted, with a good plot and a wonderful performance by James Stewart, as the absentminded...

For my 200th entry for Zeitgeist I decided to pick something special, namely this wonderful documentary series from the 60's, well-known, still sold in museums, both unashamedly elitist as well as completely popular, with a focus on genuine visual art and architecture, as well as general history, music, literature and science from the middle ages, to the early 20th century. This documentary is a joy,...

I will state outright, I am giving this film a slightly higher score then my actually enjoyment, because I find this film has a good cautionary sub-plot for woman and girls about being or appearing to easy. Actions have consequences, people gossip and it is easy to become known as a floozy. That said, this is a film aimed at a female audience, it's primarily one convoluted romance plot, though with...

Don't take me wrong, this is a fascinating look into the life one one of last centuries most interesting figures and it certainly isn't watered down that much, but I was hoping we could have gotten a little bit more context and depth in this otherwise terrific documentary. I honestly have the feeling we are getting more of a personal glimpse and not an explanation of what is the meaning behind Junger's...

An odd and slightly clumsy film that I really enjoyed, basically someone had the idea of merging a narrative documentary about the life of Godfried Schalcken, with a Gothic Horror theme of something unknown and undeath taking a girl as his bride, both sides of this film work well. As a purely historical fiction it is both informative and full of detail, they spend a lot of work getting the house,...

An interesting but overall mediocre knock-off of American crime-thrillers, there is very little that's Dutch about this completely English film, though it has it's moments, it fails not with it's action sequences that end 1/3th into the film, but as a psychological thriller. *Euro-snob mode on* Now, for something totally different, Heineken is just above piss-beer grade and apparently the brand they...

Ja Zuster, Nee Zuster was originally an old 60's children's musical series, that had most of it's tapes deleted, similar too what happened to Doctor Who, except genuinely tragic to normal people and not just weirdo's. Apparently the original show was quit good, does this film do justice to it? Yes, and no, it's an enjoyable watch, the 60's nostalgia, the fun songs, the lighthearted moments makes this...

One of a handful of pre-war Dutch films that really stand-out, a positive story, without too much drama, but a lot of charm, mostly remembered today for the popular song about not giving in to adversity, which I posted below. It's the life story of Wilma Verhulst, a young girl who is troubled by the death of her father, her exams and finding a job in the bad economy of the time, but luckily she finds...

I like this André van Duin film slightly better then his previous film, gone is the silly romance/happy ending modern comedy, in staid we get a slightly raunchy historical and political satire, during the French occupation of the Netherlands. Van Duin plays a poor schmuck who gets mistaken for a French imperial bureaucrat, due to his red hair... immediately he is bedded, fed and given expensive clothes...

André van Duin was until fairly recently a highly popular "stand-up comedian" and stage-actor, who starred in dozens and dozens of comedic shows where he plays the type of the confused, funny guy against the straight man, breaking the fourth wall, improvising on the fly and being an all-round goofball. Apparently they made some attempts to get him off the stage and into film, which delivered this...

One of the important Netherlandish writers of the 19th century is Multatuli, he is primarily known in the Netherlands and abroad for one semi-autobiography he wrote about his time as local governor in a poor Indonesian province. During his government post he tried and failed to stop both Dutch and native oppression of the local population. Now Max Havelaar is not, a woke novel or film in any modern...

The short-film that lead to Theo van Goghs assassination by a Muslim fanatic and I partially understand why. Van Gogh is a good example of a genuinely politically incorrect intellectual, a man who has no problem going after Jews and refused to back down. That said, this is not a documentary about Islam, it's a very clever short film that punches hard into the dirty underbelly of the Muslim community,...