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HBC has noted some excellent Dutch films. We know very little, however, about the Dutch film industry at this time. Films in Dutch, unfortunately have a rather limited market. We know of relatively few individual Dutch films at this time. There are several American versions of A Dog of Flanders, which was written by an English writer. We do know that the Dutch have a vibrant film industry. Because few Americans speak Dutch, it is not well known in the United States. One excellent film set in World War II is The Assault (1986). One charming recent film is Kruimeltje ("Little Crum") based on a beloved Dutch children's book.
We know very little about the Dutch film industry at this time. Films in Dutch, unfortunately have a rather limited market. The population of the Netherlands and neighboring Belgian Flanders is a rather small base on which to base a film industry. We do know that the Dutch have a vibrant film industry. Because few Americans speak Dutch, it is not well known in the United States. Fortunately Europeans are more willing to see foreign language films than Americans. Not only does the Netherlands have a small population, but for many years the film industry was impaired by Government limitations. Dutch officials for the first half of the 20th century did not regard film making a legitimate art form. In fact many officials viewed movies as licentious if not destructive of public morals. The Governments major involvent was controlling and censoring the relatively small number of films that were made. Hollywood films as a result dominated Dutch movie theaters. German films were also popular. This continued until World War II. During the German occupation (1940-44/45), American and British films were banned, thus theateres showed mostly German films. Only after the War did Government attitudes toward movie making change and the small subsidies were offered the fledgling Dutch movie industry. Still relatively few Dutch films have been made. Most that were made were low-quality rather racy films of lottle real interest. One Dutch reader writes, "There were lot of Dutch movies made in the 1970s, but they were all garbage made to titilate and had no real theatrical or historical value." Dutch moviemakers started in the 80's began to make serious movies. They have mostly been historical movies and several deal with the Dutch
World War II experience. The Government in an effort to promote the national film industry in 1999 began offering much more substantial subsidies to local movie makers.
HBC has noted some excellent Dutch films. We know, however, of a relatively small number of Dutch films, although some American films have been made about the Netherlands.
One excellent film set in World War II is The Assault (1986). I saw the film sometime ago and have difficulty remembering the details for even a basic review. I remember that I thought it was an excellent film. I remember comparing it to an American film about the Dutch Ressistance. The title was Betrayed (1954), if I remember correctly, staring Clarke Gable and Sophia Loren and it was one of the most misleading and error-filled films about World War II that I can recall. "The Assaut" on the other hand is a very relaistic film about what happened to a boy and his famiky when a collaborator is killed by the Ressistance outside their home.
There are several American versions of A Dog of Flanders (1959), which suprisingly was written by an English, not a Dutch, writer. This was at one time a very popular children's book in America and England. I'm not sure how popular it was in the Netherlands itself. These films,especilly the 1959 version, is probably the best known film about the Netherlands in the United States and many other countries. The Dutch films listed here are much less known, in pat because of the language.
One charming recent film is Kruimeltje ("Little Crum") based on a beloved Dutch children's book. The orphaned Dutch boy and his fathful dog is one of the most belovws images to the people of the Netherlands. This contemporary film about an orphaned Dutch boy and his dog in the 1920s based on a book by one Chris van Abkoude, who also wrote Pietje Bell, the book every Dutch boy grew up with, that is before they all stopped reading and started playing computer games. The film was marketed in America under the English-language title Little Crum.
A HBC reader mentions "Left Luggage". It was the debut as a producer of Dutch actor Jeroen Krabbé. With Laura Fraser as Chaja and Adam Monty as Simcha. Further: Jeroen Krabbé as Simcha’s father and Isabelle Rossellini as his mother. Story:
Antwerp, the Seventies. Chaja is the daughter of a couple who, each in their very different way, are trying to cope with memories of the holocaust. A non-observant young woman, she becomes a nanny in a Hassidic family. She has little understanding for the family’s rules and rituals. Simcha, much to the distress of his parents, doesn’t speak at age four. Chaja takes to the boy and a her love opens him up and induces him to speak. Uttering simple, single words at first, he finally asks his father the traditonal questions at Seider. Then fate catches up with them as Simcha drowns in the pond of the city’s park.
A 13-year old Jewish Dutch boy fantasizes about the German soldiers moving toward his town. A technically well made movie, but the premise is ridiculous. The main character and his friend wear short pants suits and knee socks at the beginning of the movie. In one scene the boys sneak off to a movie. You see them watching a western, sitting with their knees up to their chins. The kinickers suit was brown. The main actor also wears knickers as well as other suits. He dreams of being a cowbow as he has seen in films. He is a teenager, who is being harboured or hidden by a woman who protects him from the Nazis. She meets him along a typical Dutch/Belgium road lined by trees. She was driving a large black 4-door car. It resembled the large Mercedes that Hitler and the NAZI-bigwigs were driven in. There was a girl about the same age as the boy, about 13-14 years old, that he meets and likes. The NAZIs have occupied the town. The lady takes the boy in and uses him as her hired help on the her small farm. He seems to enjoy this farm setting, but due to his growing fantasy he takes a NAZI captive in the small barn on the woman's property when he comes to check up on things. This causes much trouble for him and in the end the boy is shot by the NAZIs in the middle of the nearby small town while pretending to be a cowboy like he has seen in the movie. He drew a toy gun on a German soldier who had a rifle and shot him, thinking the gun in the boy's hand is real.
I would not include this on a list of important films about or by the Netherlands, but as I have so few film Dutch titles, I will put it on the HBC list for now. It was made in the Netherlands in 1998, but set in the 1950s. It does not appear to have been a major production. The most reliable information on clothing comes from films with contemporary setting, but this is a modern recreation.
"De tasjesdief" (The Bag Snatchers) was made in the Netheralnds during 1995. It is about, Alex, a 12-year old school boy. Both his parents are busy with their job therefore Alex spends lots of time with his grandma whom he calls Rose. One day he finds her house raided, his grandma tied and gagged. She makes him promise not to tell anybody for fear that she would end up in an old people’s home. The villains are Evert and Lucas, two teenagers with emotional problems. They have been abandoned by their father and their stepfather bullies them.
"Voor Een Verloren Soldaat" (For a Lost Soldier) is about a refugee boy sent from Amsterdam by his mom for safekeeping to a farm family in northern Netherlands.
The area is liberated by Canadian troops, and a Canadian soldier and the boy develop a friendship. It's an auto-biographical work by the Dutch director, Jeroen Krabbe. Film critics from major daily newspapers reviewed it, and the film had only a limited American release, perhaps because of the controversial nature of the film.
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