Big screen smithereen
February 12, 2011
There was a time when Belgian movies were childish, ridiculous and/or amateuristic. One of the reasons, was the bad habit of letting the actors speak in an uncomfortable, awkward and most irritating artificial sort of Dutch. That no one in real life ever speaks unless maybe they’re hosting poetry night at the Wig and Wine Guild. Things gradually changed over the years, and since some time now this deplorable flaw was finally overcome. A more insightful generation of directors, values research and practice, to make sure that the used language is as authentic a regional dialect as possible. Even in this small country there’s a great variety of speech, peculiar to particular regions. As well as rather typical local customs.
Belgian cinema by now produced some highlights like “C’est arrivé près de chez vous” (‘it happened near you’), “Loft” (uh, yeah ‘Loft’), “De helaasheid der dingen” (‘The Alasness of things’, see picture above) & even “ex drummer”.
The latest film well worth watching, featuring some skilled actors that really put in the effort, is “Rundskop” (‘Bullhead’). Set against the background of the ‘hormone mafia’, agricultural blockheads that don’t shy away from violence to protect their financial interests. But this isn’t the whole story. A personal tragedy unfolds, showing that in some cases the bad guys also started out as victims. When random biochemical mishaps cause disorders that in turn lead chance encounters towards irreversible doom.
February 13, 2011 at 7:34 am
I lived in Belgium for about 12 months, long enough to know the country is made up of some of the nicest but weirdest people in the world. My local haunt use to be the Eleventh Commandment (ELFDE GEBOD) pub and the dungeon restaurant (can’t remember the name but it had a 3D street scene painted on the entrance.)Sheez, the stories I could tell. Have you ever been to Redu, the town of books?
February 13, 2011 at 7:35 am
Oh yeah, you were talking Belgium films….I will try and check it out
February 13, 2011 at 10:18 am
My God, a blast from the mutual past.
I’ve been there quite a few times, in “het Elfde gebod”. The other pub you are talking about is “De pelgrom”. It’s a 15th century vaulted cellar that runs underneath 2 or 3 houses. Been there a lot more, but that was more than 20 years ago. Only once visited it with my family recently.
Redu, that’s in Saint Hubert, in the Ardennes. Never took the time to visit. It’s especially interesting for book collectors. But it’s an idea, I might take a look one of these years. They have an annual festival and also an event called ‘night of the book’, with some street performances.
February 14, 2011 at 12:47 am
OK, I admit I haven’t been to Belgium in 16 odd years but nothing ever changes there, right?
February 14, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Nothing ever changes. We’re like ‘The village’.
(Reminds me to check if maybe they’re still telling stories around the campfire about you in ‘t elfde gebod.)
If you google the names of those bars, there are a lot of pictures online. Nostalgia.
February 13, 2011 at 4:15 pm
Might help if they had someone do a better job at their subtitles.
February 13, 2011 at 4:42 pm
You’re right, that often is a problem. There were some errors in this one (‘cos’ f.i.). But you should see some of the real fuck ups. Sometimes it’s as if they weren’t listening to what actually was being said. (Not that I don’t make errors in English, … but still. I’m not getting paid to do that job.)