Krabbe's film 'Left Luggage' deserves world recognition
By Gotot Prakosa
JAKARTA (JP): Dutch cultural center Erasmus Huis marks the opening of its film-showing activities in the new millennium with Left Luggage, an English-language Dutch film and the directorial debut of Jeroen Krabbe.
To be screened at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, the film is based on Carl Priedman's novel The Shovel and the Loom. Set in the 1970s, it tells of a father (Maximilian Schell) who wants to literally dig up the past as he searches for a suitcase full of memorabilia he buried when he was young.
The film centers on his spirited daughter Chaja (Laura Fraser) who has given up her study of philosophy at a school in Antwerp to find a job.
After briefly working for an entertainment company, she takes up the position of nanny in an orthodox Jewish family. The family's five-year-old son, Simcha, thought to be mute, steals her heart.
Her job is not easy as Simcha's father Kalman (Krabbe) and mother (Isabella Rosellini) raise their children to the strict dictates of tradition.
Although Simcha develops and is able to speak under her care, Chaja leaves the family following a bitter quarrel with Kalman. Simcha dies as he pines for the freedom he enjoyed with Chaja. In the central theme binding the story together, Chaja's father eventually finds his suitcase and all its memories.
Before making his directorial debut, Krabbe was known as an actor and painter. He was first cast in a Dutch film when he was 18; his career developed and took him to Hollywood, where he was cast as the antagonist in several films, including A World Apart and The Fugitive.
Left Luggage earned The Blue Angel citation from the European Academy of Film & Television and won the German Arthouse Cinema Award at the 1998 Berlin International Film Festival. Rosellini was also honored at the festival with a special citation for an exceptional performance.
The film's success adds to the impressive international recognition of Dutch films.
In 1998, Character by Mike van Diem took home an Oscar in the Student Academy Award. In 1996 Marlin Goris won an Oscar for his film Antonia's Lane, repeating the success of Frans Rademakers' The Assault 10 years earlier.
In 1999 another Dutch film, Little Tony (Kleine Teun), was included in the Un Certain Regard program in Cannes. This film was also nominated in the category of best director for Ales van Wamerdam and best actress (Annet Melherbe) at the European Film Awards.
It is interesting to note that Dutch filmmakers such as George Sdluizer, Marleen Gorris, Krabbe, Dick Mas and Mike van Diem (who worked on a film with Robert Redford in 1999) have followed in the steps of Paul Verhoeven and Jand de Bond by using English in their works.
The phenomenon has emerged as a movement in which Dutch filmmakers have attempted to develop their careers outside the Netherlands.
Unfortunately, films by Dutch filmmakers continue to fare poorly in domestic distribution; the Netherlands, like the rest of the world, is dominated by U.S. film distribution networks.
According to a Holland Film report, 19 million movie tickets were sold in the Dutch population of some 17 million people in 1997; in 1998 as many as 20 million movie tickets were sold. This increase was attributable to the showing of 20 popular films, including the blockbuster Titanic.
In 1998, according to Holland Film, 60 percent of the top box- office films were American-made, followed by films from Europe and Asia. No Dutch releases made the list.
According to distributors, the number of viewers of Dutch films has not shown any increase because there are too many small movie theaters/cineplexes. Visitors also need more comfortable movie theaters with a better sound system, for example the digital system, and other improvements in amenities.
The truism is that once a film is included in a distribution network it must be commercially oriented. The trouble is that only high-cost films may use the multiplex screen facilities. It means that Dutch films themselves must compete with American films but inevitably lose to them in distribution.
The Dutch government has extended a subsidy to film houses, now fast emerging in Dutch cities and usually showing art films, to ensure the commercial distribution of Dutch films, which are generally low-budget productions with a leaning to classification as art-house movies.
At the 1999 Netherlands Film Festival, Minister of Culture Rick van der Ploeg pledged an additional donation of 3.5 million guilders for filmmaking, starting the same year. He also called on investors to donate more to boost Dutch filmmaking. This appeal led to the collection of some 17,336,000 guilders, which was distributed to Dutch filmmakers through the Dutch Film Fund.
In the Netherlands there are several institutions which provide grants for the production of Dutch films, such as FINE BV, an intermediary institution which extends a donation of 15 million guilders (US$7.5 million) as initial capital for film production in Holland.
The example may attract other investors to extend donations so that there will be enough funds for the production of 50 titles of films in five years. A donation scheme like this was begun in December 1998.
Through its ministries of economic affairs, finance and culture, the Netherlands is now developing its film infrastructure in an effort to gain access to the international market.
To this end, the Dutch government supports the Amsterdam School of the Arts, to which belongs Netherlands Film & Television Academy, which provides a basic grounding in film, and also the establishment of Maurits Binger Film Institute Foundation, which gives advanced level training in writing, film directing and production.
It has also established a film fund to raise funds for the production of films which have the potential to enter the global market. The Dutch government also supports a number of film festivals, like the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, Animation Film Festival in Utrecht and, last but not least, the Dutch Film Festival, also in Utrecht.
The latter festival is concerned with local production and provides a benchmark in gauging the development of Dutch films.
The government also supports Holland Film Promotion, which seeks to promote Dutch films abroad and help Dutch filmmakers wishing to participate in foreign festivals. The agency helps promote the films abroad, facilitate the journey of the filmmakers and their films abroad and assists in using English subtitles.
With the range of programs and assistance provided by the Dutch government, it is little wonder the country's filmmakers are making a name for themselves abroad.