Welcome to the new profile
We're still working on updating some profile features. To see the badges, ratings breakdowns, and polls for this profile, please go to the previous version.
Ratings575
JvH48's rating
Reviews548
JvH48's rating
Saw this at IDFA 2024, the documentary film festival in Amsterdam. It reminded me of a recent visit to Rosenburg Castle in Copenhagen, where lots of ornaments and furniture was displayed, samples out of the collection of former Danish kings. As a not-so-frequent visitor of museums, this was my first confrontation with looted art. (I knew the term in a WW II context, but that is a totally different issue.) And it was by far not my last confrontation, as Denmark was no exception.
I am now perfectly aware that more countries acted similarly in their colonies. In hindsight I should have known better: names like Ivory Coast and Gold Coast are given for a reason to some parts of Africa. Since then, it stayed on my radar, knowing that the inhabitants at the time were not properly paid for those locally made handicraft, nor for mining materials coming out of their soil. Since then, I see contemporary movements to return those artifacts to the original countries, things I was less aware of before.
(Along the same line are parallel movements to offer excuses for past misdeeds around grabbing men and women from African countries, shipping them under harsh circumstances over the ocean, and letting them work under even so harsh conditions without proper pay. It seems a different matter, but it comes forth from a similar abuse of power over former colonies, accompanied by a condescending attitude against other races, and supported by the church, e.g. Pope Nicolaas V writing Dum Diversas in1452.)
It is easy to blindly applaud the return journey of 26 artefacts, going back from Paris to Benin (as the country is called nowadays). This is what we witness in the first half of the documentary. Rather than applauding France's generosity to facilitate this return journey, the 2nd half of this movie shows that it is by far not the last word. Firstly, there is the fact that merely 26 artefacts are just a small fraction of the thousands taken away in past centuries.
Secondly, there is much more to it, like their native languages and cultures that were "stolen" in the past, by actively suppressing all dialects and forcing everyone to speak French, the language of the ruling colonial country France. The current generation in Benin demonstrates this in open discussions on the matters at hand.
All in all, this movie is a welcome contribution to our social perception, at least to mine. It worked for me as an eye opener, broadening the scope of how we utilized our colonies, not only by taking away their natural riches but also by suppressing their local culture.
I am now perfectly aware that more countries acted similarly in their colonies. In hindsight I should have known better: names like Ivory Coast and Gold Coast are given for a reason to some parts of Africa. Since then, it stayed on my radar, knowing that the inhabitants at the time were not properly paid for those locally made handicraft, nor for mining materials coming out of their soil. Since then, I see contemporary movements to return those artifacts to the original countries, things I was less aware of before.
(Along the same line are parallel movements to offer excuses for past misdeeds around grabbing men and women from African countries, shipping them under harsh circumstances over the ocean, and letting them work under even so harsh conditions without proper pay. It seems a different matter, but it comes forth from a similar abuse of power over former colonies, accompanied by a condescending attitude against other races, and supported by the church, e.g. Pope Nicolaas V writing Dum Diversas in1452.)
It is easy to blindly applaud the return journey of 26 artefacts, going back from Paris to Benin (as the country is called nowadays). This is what we witness in the first half of the documentary. Rather than applauding France's generosity to facilitate this return journey, the 2nd half of this movie shows that it is by far not the last word. Firstly, there is the fact that merely 26 artefacts are just a small fraction of the thousands taken away in past centuries.
Secondly, there is much more to it, like their native languages and cultures that were "stolen" in the past, by actively suppressing all dialects and forcing everyone to speak French, the language of the ruling colonial country France. The current generation in Benin demonstrates this in open discussions on the matters at hand.
All in all, this movie is a welcome contribution to our social perception, at least to mine. It worked for me as an eye opener, broadening the scope of how we utilized our colonies, not only by taking away their natural riches but also by suppressing their local culture.
It takes lots of time to get a clear view on the underlying plot. It may be that the filmmakers counted on our familiarity with the overarching court case, but for us living outside Belgium it particularly did not work. During the overly long pre-amble, I was pondering what the plot would lead to: (a) the child porn is planted to pressure Francois to do something in the context of the court case he is involved in. This course case is mentioned several times, but what it entails remained a mystery; OR (b) Francois studied the child porn on grounds of "need to know" in the context of said court case. By chance, Raphael discovered it many years ago, watched it out of curiosity, got hooked and kept looking for similar stuff on Internet, explaining the 7,700 views; OR (c) others in the family were sexually abused when they were young, but kept silent about it for many years, now suddenly coming forward for some reason; OR (d).... I can go on like this, randomly combining other plot elements that can be constructed out of the building blocks presented.
The background court case is a high profile one, given journalists who are waiting 24/7 before their house, overwhelming them with questions at the gate. It gives rise to suspicions from my side that political elements were trying to steer in a certain direction, but that Francois did not give in as a matter of principle, while TPTB heightened the pressure until their (hidden) goal is reached, no matter what it does to the personal lives of the family involved.
It takes lots of time to unconfuse us and make clear which direction the plot is going to take, and suddenly it hits us that the case is less convoluted than I thought at first. In other words, an anticlimax. Before that, I felt a light but continuous tension throughout, letting us wonder which development or turn of event would be next. Tantalizing when one of my assumed plots (see above) was to come out. It did not, in my opinion, a missed chance to get the story to a higher level.
All in all, I had the feeling when leaving the venue that we should be disappointed that the court case as well as the other family members were less involved, in other words that it was not exploited farther than done here. In the defense of the filmmakers, I can assume that they tried to remain true to the events of the background court case, which was well-known in Belgium, and did not want to paraphrase on it to arrive at a more interesting scenario. The latter could have given us novel insights into how such a court case works out on those involved. They could have elaborated freely, adding a footnote "Based on true events."
Because of missed chances of upgrading the plot, digressing from the original court case as it was known in Belgium, my score comes down to 3/5. We don't get a chance to delve deeper in the motives of the protagonists, what they did and why they did it. We only touch their surface. It's a pity, as it could have been much better. They could have turned it into a "based on true events" story, cutting loose from the original events. My final conclusion is that the protagonists remain bleak and non-interesting, leaving us indifferent what happens to them.
The background court case is a high profile one, given journalists who are waiting 24/7 before their house, overwhelming them with questions at the gate. It gives rise to suspicions from my side that political elements were trying to steer in a certain direction, but that Francois did not give in as a matter of principle, while TPTB heightened the pressure until their (hidden) goal is reached, no matter what it does to the personal lives of the family involved.
It takes lots of time to unconfuse us and make clear which direction the plot is going to take, and suddenly it hits us that the case is less convoluted than I thought at first. In other words, an anticlimax. Before that, I felt a light but continuous tension throughout, letting us wonder which development or turn of event would be next. Tantalizing when one of my assumed plots (see above) was to come out. It did not, in my opinion, a missed chance to get the story to a higher level.
All in all, I had the feeling when leaving the venue that we should be disappointed that the court case as well as the other family members were less involved, in other words that it was not exploited farther than done here. In the defense of the filmmakers, I can assume that they tried to remain true to the events of the background court case, which was well-known in Belgium, and did not want to paraphrase on it to arrive at a more interesting scenario. The latter could have given us novel insights into how such a court case works out on those involved. They could have elaborated freely, adding a footnote "Based on true events."
Because of missed chances of upgrading the plot, digressing from the original court case as it was known in Belgium, my score comes down to 3/5. We don't get a chance to delve deeper in the motives of the protagonists, what they did and why they did it. We only touch their surface. It's a pity, as it could have been much better. They could have turned it into a "based on true events" story, cutting loose from the original events. My final conclusion is that the protagonists remain bleak and non-interesting, leaving us indifferent what happens to them.
Saw this at the Imagine film festival 2024 in Amsterdam. The plot itself may not be interesting or relevant, but it is shown in a beautiful way, yet not for the faint of heart, with lots of blood and gore. Even fatalities can be expected, so not everyone (euphemism alert) is still standing in the end. The supernatural twist in the end may not satisfy everyone, however, but the pentagram in the basement predicted that something bad was planned all along, and dark powers need dead corpses as an unwritten rule.
Outside normal arenas and without official rules, this type of wrestling can be very destructive, as we see here. The audience cheers, whatever happens, and doesn't mind open wounds, reams of blood, broken limbs, or other serious injuries. Previously, I always assumed that a lot of theater was involved when I saw it on TV. That may be so for the official wrestling matches, but what we watch here is beyond mercy for the losers. Moreover, it was planned from the outset by the event organizers that five fatally wounded were to be "produced" for the pentagram to complete.
Lucky for us, and for the tension we were waiting for, the division between winners and losers is not along the lines that were foreseen by the one who presided over the match. The visiting group of wrestlers was more creative and resourceful than we thought at first.
All in all, though I am not interested in this type of sport, it was interesting to watch this story and all its developments, most of which were unexpected and unplanned. The supernatural twist did not harm either to arrive at a 4/5 score for the audience award when leaving the venue.
Outside normal arenas and without official rules, this type of wrestling can be very destructive, as we see here. The audience cheers, whatever happens, and doesn't mind open wounds, reams of blood, broken limbs, or other serious injuries. Previously, I always assumed that a lot of theater was involved when I saw it on TV. That may be so for the official wrestling matches, but what we watch here is beyond mercy for the losers. Moreover, it was planned from the outset by the event organizers that five fatally wounded were to be "produced" for the pentagram to complete.
Lucky for us, and for the tension we were waiting for, the division between winners and losers is not along the lines that were foreseen by the one who presided over the match. The visiting group of wrestlers was more creative and resourceful than we thought at first.
All in all, though I am not interested in this type of sport, it was interesting to watch this story and all its developments, most of which were unexpected and unplanned. The supernatural twist did not harm either to arrive at a 4/5 score for the audience award when leaving the venue.