Character Reviews

2 June

Almost a year ago, when I joined Listal, the only great Dutch films I had seen were 'Black Book' and 'Soldier of Orange'. I thought these two films were the only good ones. I was terribly wrong: 'Simon', 'The Marathon', 'Daglicht' and now 'Character'.

+ Wonderful costumes and set designs
+ Victor Löw's role
+ I loved the story of this film
+ Great acting performances
- A little slow at some points

Now I need to see Paul Verhoeven's 'Turkish Delight' really soon. It is supposed to be the best Dutch film ever made.

visit my 2013 film diary

Since I have been living in the Netherlands, I try to watch as many Dutch movies as possible. Honestly, the Dutch movie industry is rather small and most of the movies are not really worth a look, but, from time to time, you come accross some real gem and this movie is a perfect example. Even though it is nowadays pretty much forgotten, back in those days, it did manage to win the Academy award for the Best Foreign Language film and, in my opinion, it definitely deserved this award. Indeed, the story was rather simple but the characters were very well played and basically really fascinating to watch. Furthermore, the directing was very sober and effective and managed to seamlessly mix thriller and drama. It is rather surprising and really too bad that Mike van Diem never directed any other movies after this movie and I really wonder what the guy has been up to (Apparently, according to the Dutch Wikipedia, he doesn’t direct movies anymore but mostly TV commercials… I mean, this is a perfect example about how disheartening the Dutch movie industry can be. From Oscar winner to commercials director… It should be the other way around but nevermind). Anyway, to conclude, in my opinion, it is one of the best Dutch movies ever made and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Dutch movies.