Reviews

Yes, I am impressed too... but only by the play of Theo Maassen. I think he is the only Dutch actor (and Dutchman in general!) that I really and truly like. The film itself though is not just predictable, but also lacks sense, purpose: what was it made for? To plead for capital punishment or for life term in prison that would really mean life, because some people just have no place in the society and cannot be changed? It is unclear. Some might say "to entertain", but I think a society that finds watching murders being committed on screen "entertaining" is even more sick than the killers! Overall, very impressive Maassen and quite bleak poorly written script.

The political message of this film is clear - and I like it, but not so much the film itself. I think that the story is weak, the actors are not convincing (when you see how the South Korean actors are usually portraying North Koreans, you wonder did they do any research at all, never mind meeting the actual people! I am not Korean and I think I have more knowledge of what people in North Korea are like than the makers of this film! )and the ending is very predictable. It was a nice idea to make it, but as a film... I have seen political South Korean films that made me cry and laugh. This one just doesn't have the same effect.

It is not a bad film. It is pleasant to see, even though painfully predictable throughout. Nice actors. But the script is a shameless copy of British "Love actually". Besides, Kim van Kooten must have been living in some sort of a fantasy world: no foreigners ("niet Westerse allochtonen") in this movie at all! This isn't today's Netherlands; perhaps, this is how the Dutch middle class would like it to be, but it certainly does not reflect the reality! But then again, in real life Prince of Orange doesn't walk around the shops without security either,does he? All in all, not a bad fairy tale, but I would prefer to see something original, not just a cheap copy of films from other countries.

"It's really funny to see this poor guy being used as boxing equipment by almost everyone." - says another commentator. Excuse me? What is so funny about that? I have watched that film patiently; I have live in Holland long enough to understand what most other foreign viewers would experience as just simply plain stupid - but if you think that broad audience outside of the Netherlands is going to appreciate this film, you are sadly mistaken. It was boring, with nudity, sex and slapping filling the gaps in the poor written story - and actually far worse than many of the really strong Dutch films I have seen. The only moment I found funny was with 4 Africans - there is a good point there about the "quality" of a Ducthman as a lover!

It is a good film, but I was expecting far better: after reading people's comments and also being fan of Jan Decleir who is indeed a very good actor. I wouldn't call this film a comedy at all, but that in itself is not a problem. The problem is that it is all very predictable and stereotypical: older lonely Westerner, desperate young Eastern European woman... blah-blah-blah, you name it. Yes, there were funny moments (mainly his meetings with other "potential brides"), but the whole picture is very bleak, just as the interior of the hero's house. Even Jan Decleir cannot rescue this film. You know in advance how it is going to end. You know exactly what the heroes are going to do next. Maria Popistasu is OK, but nothing extraordinary. And, most important, none of the heroes of this film deserves any compassion. In one word - boring.

"Nice movie for little children?" Allow me to totally disagree! I saw it for the first time today and I am still in shock! Thank god my children are too small to see it. Wat een racistische flauwekul! Here you have it, the whole standard racist lot: "good"Americans, "evil" Indians who kidnap children, always drunken Latin American "revolutionaries", Latin Americans who desperately "want" a Dutchman for their president and all whose sicknesses can be cured if they swallow mothballs! Not to mention that the evil Latin Americans (who have some Germans with "nazi accents" among them)force children into slavery (not a word of the West profiteering from child labour in Third World countries, that's too complicated for a little Dutch mind,of course!)... How much worse can it get?? If children in Holland grow up reading such books and watching such films,does it surprise anybody that they grow into Geert Wilderses?? Or that it is one of the most racist countries in Europe at present? The sad thing is that if I tell my Dutch friends about it, they won't even understand what I am talking about, as this is something they simply grew up with... I wanted to see this film because I liked "Minoes" so much. Apparently, Ms. Schmidt is not racist only when it comes to cats... Sad, really sad.

I actually found it a very sad film. All the humiliations Jamaicans have to go through just in order to feed their families. Enormously stupid and arrogant American guests (I wouldn't want to have my holidays among such folks!). Beer drinking competition and crab races as "entertainment". And Jamaicans really believe that they are "free"??? And that the Cubans are not? I have had holidays in Cuba. All the staff who work with tourists, have dignity and self-respect because they won't starve if they don't please the morons with money. And the entertainment includes salsa lessons and Spanish courses. I would not want to be on holidays in Jamaica after seeing this film (poor waiter who had to sleep with that old fat cow!)and I do sincerely feel sorry for the Jamaican people who are very talented and friendly and certainly deserve better than serving a bunch of idiots.

I agree that it is a good and very realistic film. It should be shown on TV in all Eastern European countries, so that the girls who might be tempted to go to the West, would know what to expect. However, I would like to ask a question to the previous commenting viewer who said that in this film "we see the positive and negative sides of buying and selling women.." POSITIVE sides? Excuse me, what are the positive sides of a slave trade? Maybe you didn't mean it, but your statement sounds like coming from somebody who regularly uses that sort of parlours and does not mind if those who "work" there, are being abused - as long as he gets "what he paid for". Very sad to read.