"De Aardwolf" may not look controversial by today's standards, but you have to keep in mind how conservative the Belgian film industry was in the 1980s. We were not a communist country, but you could certainly be fooled by our film output. Most of these films were funded by the government, who certainly had a say in the content as well. For this reason, Belgium mostly made (way too) faithfull adaptations of century-old classic novels. In most countries, students are delighted when the hungover teacher just plays a movie instead of actually teaching. In Belgium this was only fun for about fifteen seconds. I've seen so many old farmers die I'm genuinely surprised there are any left.
"De Aardwolf" was immediately banned because there's some Nazi symbolism in there, but the most shocking about it was how it features recognisable people in recognisable situations, saying dialogues people could actually say. It wasn't the first Belgian movie to do so ("Zaman" would come to mind here), but it was still relatively new at the time. Writer/Director Rob Van Eyck may be a glorified amateur, but he's a trailblazer at the same time. As cheap and technically limited as this movie looks, it is highly engaging.
Main actor Kurt Van Eeghem doesn't like to be reminded of this film, which is weird because he's absolutely nailing it here. He plays an arrogant, snobbish banker with an iron confidence, but very limited skill. Van Eeghem finds the perfect balance between a cartoon character and someone we could see in everyday life. Who doesn't know someone with a vague, probably redundant consultant job who thinks he is saving the world? Watching this guy squirm as he gets himself in more and more trouble is incredibly entertaining, so Van Eeghem has nothing to be ashamed of.
As I said, Van Eyck is not a technically accomplished director. His most famous work is "The Afterman", which is basically en exploitation movie that has nothing to offer besides violence and nudity (I give it two thumbs up). He also made the downright appalling "Blue Belgium", a very controversial film about a real-life rapist and murderer. "De Aardwolf" has more depth and is quite clearly his best work. It's a shame this was banned for so long, but thankfully the Belgian film archive dug it up and even showed it on television. What an age we live in!
