This Dutch crime thriller is based on actual events but the
director Andre van Duran and the films producer Matthijs van Heijningen inform
us that the film is not a history lesson and the protagonists in the film are
composites of different people.
It’s set just before the start of the Second World War in
the industrial city of Oss, which is in the southern province of the
Netherlands. At this time the city was out of control, caught up in a crime wave,
which involved all the civic dignitaries and officials, the Catholic Church and
the local police force. These people were involved in sex crimes, prostitution,
fraud and burglary. No one was immune from this regime of corruption. Military
police were sent from the protestant north to put an end to this criminality, a
decision that in fact escalated the bloodshed in the area because of the
conflict between the different religions.
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| The Gang of Oss. |
At the centre of our story is Johanna van Heesch, played by
the bewitching Sylvia Hoeks, who runs the local café/bar. She is the daughter
of Mein de Snol (Juul Friday) and half sister to the mentally retarded Trees
(Maria Kroakman). Her husband Ties (Schoenaerts) is an aggressive and violent
man who on his release from prison sets out to change his former way of life,
but before long he’s back pimping his wife, drinking heavily and resuming his
employment with Wim de Kuiper (Marcel Musters) self declared leader of the
local criminal gang. But Johanna, who is now pregnant, wants to protect her
unborn infant from Ties violent outbursts and break away from her unsavoury life.
The only fall proof way of doing this is to arrange for her husband to be
killed, and to this end teams up with the only man who can read and write in
the town, the well to do insurance broker and the gangs book keeper Harry den
Brock (Frank Lammers). But before things can get any better her half sister is
put in danger and the head of the MPs is shot down and killed.
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| Johanna and Ties. |
This award winning Dutch language movie is one of the best
crime thriller’s I have seen for a long time. Its exciting, very well acted by
a cast I can guarantee you will not recognise, but certainly will want to see
more of, especially Sylvia Hoeks, an actress that is very well known in her
home country due to her appearances on Dutch TV. The period detail is great and
its Dutch settings are authentic. For
some strange reason this movie has not been released in the United Kingdom but
can be purchased thru Amazon as an import. Unfortunately the extras on the two disk
Blu-ray are not undertitled, but this will not spoil your enjoyment of this
splendid film, which does include undertitles.
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