Another problem with dutch movies: when they focus around a criminal plot, they do Hollywood. A lot of swearing, a lot of fancy cars and a lot of halfnaked women. Though dutchies do swear profoundly in the big cities (a lot of areas are predominantly catholic or protestant), you can't drive yellow ferrari's in cities that stem from the 1500s. I've just seen 'Van God Los' though, which is loosely inpired by the 'gang of Venlo', a group of mudering criminals in a small town in Holland, that shook the nation. I was really impressed by the acting of Tygo Gernandt (as everybody in the movie biz), but also by the fact that the movie was dutch of character in setting but also in character traits. It was never too Hollywood. The only glitch was that one thinks "This could never happen in Holland" even though it's based on a true cycle of events. But maybe that's just me.
Then we are blessed with a series of films starring dutch soap-actors, made predominantly for teenagers. These movies focus round holidays, contain sex (from the first kiss to finding out you're lesbian), swearing, a lot of drinking, and a lot of partying. Typical teenage behaviour when dutchies are on their holidays. Really something to be embaressed with. Truth is, even though i loathe young dutch people in Salou or Lanzarote, i enjoyed the movies since they are so simple and entertaining. Nothing wrong with some mind-numbing entertainment once in a while, but hardly an asset to the dutch film-industry. It's like sending in 'Saved by the bell' for an Emmy.
The problem with overt sex in dutch movies then. The first movie coming out of Holland making use of that extensively, was 'Turks Fruit' based on a book by Jan Wolkers. Contrary to what i have ranted, i absolutely adore this movie. Wolkers is so extravagant in his use of "dirty" words in his book, that it could not be avoided in the movie. The characters talk about what color their poo is, dance naked in the rain, have sex with numerous amounts of people (and describe it in detail), and all it does is make me smile. And cry at the end ofcourse, because one of the main characters ofcourse has to die. What i therefore think the problem is with all movies that came after it, is that they thought "If 'Turks Fruit' can do it, we can do it". The succes can not be attributed to the director, surely: we gave him to America and let him make 'Showgirls'.
Other typical dutch phenomena such as legal euthanasia and an open stance towards gay relations are subject in the newly released movie, 'Simon'. I have not seen it yet, but i'm really interested in it, since it is the movie we're going to send to the Oscars of 2005. I suspect it will contain a lot of swearing, some extravagant drug abuse, and the occasional sex. Also, the theme of a seemingly strange friendship between a drugdealing white-trash and a yuppie gay is not altogether special, certainly not when one keeps in mind that one will die of cancer. Nevertheless, i am dying to see it.
