Reviews

The picture shown belongs on the box of an edition of the Dutch (and only) DVD-version (2003). The Title of the this DVD-version is just "Winnetou" and as first and only DVD-version in existence it deserves mentioning as alternate title. The series consists out of 6 DVD's. Remarkable is that this is not the same cut as the one shown on German television.

The DVD-series has non-removable Dutch subtitling, is English spoken (no options there either) and has no extras. Picture quality is not outstanding, but more than good enough for small screen viewing. Quite remarkable, taking into account the arson, rape and violence as integral -if not central- part of the story, though not too directly shown, the genre is given as "Kids". Sound quality can be called good, and the music is worth listening too. Certainly worthy of being looked for in the bargain box, even if the Dutch subtitles are just weird characters to the looker.

Main theme of the series are the crimes committed by Euro-Americans on the native population.

This movie has been made mostly as a statement concerning the treatment of minority languages by the movie-industry. The issue was that even though the books were written in Dutch, the location and behaviour of (most of) the characters made it clear that the language that would have been used most was the Frisian one. That the "real" Kameleon movie was made without giving the Frisian language the place it needed to make the movie realistic in that aspect was cause for a group of people (mainly students) to make a movie showing that a good movie could be made while using the Frisian language. If the fact that this movie is in itself a protest and statement, rather than a commercial product, is taken in consideration, the movie is very good. Not of real interest except for die-hard Kameleon fans and people interested in movies using the Frisian language.