Page 59 - Studio International - November December 1975

EXPERIMENTAL FILM-

MAKING IN HOLLAND

Barbara Meter

Although the Dutch have a great history in terms of came into existence in the sixties. Best known, I think
visual art, their film development has always lagged even in England, are the films of Wim Verstappen and
behind other countries and in the process underlined Pim de la Parra, all dealing with sex, violence, and then
that most of what is publicized as film is no more than a sex again. They are still making the same kind of films
reproduction on celluloid of drama or literature. And in now, and successfully (meaning that people crowd into
drama and literature there is no, or very little, tradition in the cinemas to see all those nudes and fake-intercourse
Holland. 'Filmic' history has therefore been poor, and scenes). More serious in their approach were Nicolai van
apart from Haanstra and Joris Ivens no names have der Heyden and Adrian Ditvoorst who still film their
penetrated beyond Dutch boundaries. complicated dramas within the tradition of conventional
Bert Haanstra's earlier films (from the fifties) combine cinema. With van der Heyden the influence of the
both Dutch cleanliness and petit-bourgeoism. A true nouvelle vague can still be felt, and Ditvoorst's films have
tourist image : pretty moving postcards, seagulls, a mysterious quality which can perhaps be described as
windmills and canals. Herman van der Horst's films Christian darkness combined with the tea-kettle.
were in the same tradition. Holland seems a country in The films of Johan van der Keuken are also interesting.
which nothing much happens beyond ladies leaning out His themes show a genuine interest in social life, and the
of eighteenth-century houses feeding the birds while the style in which he is filming proves that he wants to find
carillon plays. Lately, Haanstra has been occupied with new 'ways of seeing'. Van der Keuken's style is mostly
biology and evolution, making the film Ape and Super filming by association, but this association is never crude
Ape. or cheap. On the contrary : the chain of thoughts behind
I n those early days, Ivens was filming in Vietnam, the images is often hard to grasp. His political analysis
having made Borinage (about the mining area in that is sympathetic but naive; a true humanistic approach.
part of Belgium), Spanish Earth and the —for the Dutch — Neither commercial nor independent, van der Keuken's
controversial Indonesia Calling, which attacked Dutch films are mostly financed by a 'progressive' TV station.
colonial policy in Indonesia. This last film has been the He has made films about blind children ; miserable
reason for Ivens' filming outside Holland ever since : housing conditions (Four Walls) ; the 'cultural
he simply did not have any more opportunities within his revolution' of the sixties ( The Spirit of the Times) ; and
native country. Ivens is now making a film about China the poorness of Africa as opposed to the Welfare State
which he has visited several times, before and after the of the Netherlands — besides portraits of a Dutch painter
revolution. He has come back to Holland occasionally (Lucebert) and the American saxophonist Ben Webster.
during the last few years and has even made a little film His film Beauty is fully concerned with finding new
here called Rotterdam Europoort, but he certainly does forms (not in the true experimental 'tradition', but more
not feel at home enough to stay. as a film-language, operating via literary associations
As for 'commercial' films, the Dutch film industry behind sometimes surrealistic-looking images). The

Johan van der Keuken Beauty 1970
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