Jules Royaards

De Ware Jacob

This film is about the Jewish girl Sara and the ruin of her family during World War II. Her parents have to live in the Jewish ghetto in Amsterdam, but later they are arrested and deported. Sara decides to flee with her brother and his girlfriend to Palestine. Based on the book by Marga Minco.

The fainthearted cigar trader Ducker keeps himself quiet during World War II. That changes when parachutist Dorbeck lands in his backyard. It turns out the parachutist bears a remarkable resemblance to Ducker. Ducker follows Dorbeck blindly, becomes involved in the Dutch resistance and soon starts killing people. When he escapes through German lines to the freed South Netherlands, no one has ever heard of Dorbeck.

The polder, main feature of the Dutch landscape, has a disconcerting effect on the traveller who comes across it. In the film a young man begins to explore this world and finds himself steeped in silence and in the vastness of space. He has a feeling of serenity which he naively endeavours to capture. But the climate of Holland always seeks revenge. Serenity gradually gives way to despair against the backdrop of the bare landscape with no shelter to offer. The very same reasons which explain the polder’s charm now become responsible for a hostile attitude : the vastness becomes oppressive, paradise becomes a hell.

A successful vascular surgeon is suddenly confronted with a blood phobia, making it impossible for him to exercise his job in the hospital. He moves from the capital to the countryside to work as the GP of a village where he only knows his aunt. His predecessor was well liked, so his new community is less than welcoming. The empathic capabilities of the doctor leaves much to be desired, making it even harder for him to win his place in the close-knit community.