Change Your Image
David Stetler
Reviews
Spelen of sterven (1990)
A Universal Story About Loneliness
"To Play Or Die" is an intense story about loneliness.
It is about Kees, an introverted boy who is constantly being picked on at school. Knowing his parents will be away for the day he has decided to invite Charel, one of the bullies to visit him at home after school. The DVD packaging says he is searching for revenge by doing this, but it's clear to me that Kees actually likes Charel.
During the day Kees endures a particularly humiliating experience in the school gymnasium locker room. Still, Charel does show up at Kees' home later on. It goes badly from the start and soon they get into a fist fight because Charel thinks Kees isn't manly enough.
After that, Kees goes completely berserk and self-destructs. I think that the reason for this is a combination of loneliness, self-hatred and frustration. It's a powerful film. I can't bring myself to watch it again. And I can't help thinking about it either.
Voor een verloren soldaat (1992)
A very nice low key movie
This is an unusual film. Everyone in the movie is a nice decent ordinary person. It is the story of Jeroen, a choreographer in present day Amsterdam.
Jeroen is developing a new dance to be included as part of an upcoming celebration in commemoration of the liberation of the Netherlands after the war. Jeroen insists on speaking English. Ninety nine percent of what he speaks is in English. After a while it starts to get on your nerves because it doesn't seem appropriate. And the dance isn't going too well either. The leader of the dance troupe gently suggests that he try for a tighter focus. And so we go into the flashback which comprises most of the movie.
Jeroen is a young teenager in 1945. He is sent by his mother along with many other children to live with volunteer families in the countryside where living conditions are better than in the city. He is sexually aware and gay but things just aren't working out too well. His friend Jan knows about him. One day after playing in the river they remove most of their clothing so it can dry. Just for a game Jan strips naked and pretends to sleep. Joroen of course can't help looking even though he tries not to. Later when they're called to go home Jan tells Jeroen "don't tell anyone you saw my dick". And then there's Henk, the farmer's son. Henk and Jeroen share the same bed because there's no other room. But Jeroen is pretty much invisible to Henk. And so it goes until the Canadian army comes to town.
This is the only part of the movie I didn't like. The soldiers are depicted as soft, undisciplined and lazy. More like tourists than soldiers. That's not the way it is, especially in wartime.
And then Jeroen met Walt Cook, a gay soldier. Walt tells Jeroen "I knew what kind of a fellow you were the first time I saw you." "What kind of a fellow are you, Jeroen?" Jeroen doesn't speak English. Who cares?
They quickly become good friends. Really good friends. But they stop just short. Until one day Jeroen tells Walt he wants more. The film is so low key, not boring, just ordinary, and I was only half watching so it startled me when Jeroen practically broke into song when he told Walt he was ready.
Eventually the soldiers left without warning. The guys had souvenir photos of each other, but they were destroyed for various reasons. Jeroen was attending school and on the last day before he was to return to Amsterdam and his mother the headmaster assigned them the task of writing an essay "What Liberation Means To Me". And to illustrate it if they wished. Jeroen was still in his seat long after everyone else had left. He had been thinking about Walt, but regular people don't want to hear about that kind of thing. His paper was blank except for the title "What Liberation Means To Me", yes, in English, for the 99th time. Why? Because Walt spoke English, that's why.