Ja Zuster Nee Zuster.
Yes Sister, No Sister
and yet again the small but perfectly formed Dutch film industry has outshone
their Hollywood counterparts with what will be seen as a classic. By genre a musical and this suits the Dutch
style of overacting perfectly rather than say an adaptation of something more
subtle such as Art. We begin
with a musical opening that sets the scene for the whole film with themes
borrowed from the classic Hollywood musicals but you had the feeling that it
would look great on the stage.
Set in the late
sixties we meet the inhabitants of a rusthaus run by Sister Klavia whos
motto is doe wat je liever doet (do what you would rather do) and their
neighbour who is always complaining about their slightly shall we say eccentric
and un-neighbourly behaviour. A series
of madcap events takes place with a character known as the de ingineur who
is always trying to develop the miracle cure for miserable and bad people in
what must have been the forerunner of todays designer drugs. He gives one of his creations to a cat and
it suddenly stops chasing birds and mice so he tries it on the miserable neighbour
who suddenly throws a party for all the people in the street he has been
upsetting over the years. Unfortunately
the pill only lasts a day so during the cold turkey phase he finally gets the
conviction he is looking for and the inhabitants must immediately leave. More twists and turns later we reach the
final over the top and farcical ending with a few songs to round off the
performance.
Some classic
cameos on Dutch life. A singing in the
rain scene featuring a tram and bus and a circus number that ends with the
street full of olifantpoep. That
situation has improved and anyway it was no worse than say Inner London. A cameo from top actor Paul de Leeuw as the hairdresser
who has managed to make it onto the front pages recently thanks to a former girlfriend
who seemed to have enlisted the services of Max Clifford* (Nederland) b.v but
we wont go into that in a high brow publication such as this.
From a
foreigners point of view the Dutch was spoken very clearly and even if you don't
speak a word of it there are enough songs and visuals to make it worth seeing
and even if you dont buy (or copy) the soundtrack the drugs references are
small and nothing compared with the new offering from Mr. P Gabriel esq. Presumably he is extolling the benefits of
Viagra on his new album Im not going to buy it so I cant say.
The credits
say the film was based on a classic television series from 1967 68 but it was
perfect for today nothing political just pure escapism and modern reworkings
of classic movie themes and some excellent sound production and arrangements.
* Max
Clifford is based in London as describes himself as a publicist but has
nothing to do with the noble profession of public relations. Instead he specialises in extracting the
maximum amount of cash and publicity in so called kiss and tell stories
where jilted former acquaintances of people in the public eye spill the dirt so that newspapers such as the News of the
Screws (Really called News of the World available on Sundays at all
main railway stations in Holland) can continue to maintain their market
share.