Van God Los (2003)

Two small town Dutch boys whose socially unnatural friendship is so close, they care nothing for human or divine rules and lose all grip on reality, sliding into violent crime.

Director:

Pieter Kuijpers

Writers:

Pieter Kuijpers, Paul Jan Nelissen

Stars:

Egbert Jan Weeber, Tygo Gernandt, Angela Schijf

7 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Egbert Jan Weeber	...	Stan Meijer
Tygo Gernandt	...	Maikel Verheije
Angela Schijf	...	Anna Sprengers
Mads Wittermans	...	Sef
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Selma Avkapan	...	Granddaughter of Osman
Tamer Avkapan	...	Nadir
Marnie Blok	...	Joke
Bacha Chilaia	...	Frank
Loek Ewalds	...	Police officer 1
Mark Kleuskens	...	Police Officer 2
Cemil Kurtgözu	...	Suleyman
Pim Lambeau	...	Mevr. van de Velde
Frits Lambrechts	...	Dhr. van de Velde
Johnny Lion	...	Johan Schreurs
Peter Post	...	East-European man

Storyline

Stan Meijer is by nature a good boy, but grows up frustrated in Venlo, a boring provincial town in the Catholic Dutch South, feeling neglected by his gold-digger mother who remarried a dentist and abandoned by his biological father, a friendly macho trucker who stood the pre-teen up for reasons unknown when he planned to move in with him, never to be heard off until reading dad's obituary. So instead of joining the minor socialite life, Stan hooks up with junkies Maikel (dialect pronunciation-spelling for Michael) Verheije, a hot-head small criminal, and Sef, his lieutenant, who drag him along in small crime as an adolescent. When the bumbling trio gets arrested red-handed, the police sends both ruffians to jail but releases Stan as implausible suspect. He's too nice to accept when Maikel's girl-friend offers herself to him, and on Mikail's release joins him in a hold-up which goes bad, as the nervous amateurs needlessly kill the victim, a shopkeeper and secret weed-grower, rather ...

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Plot Keywords:

dutch | gang | boy | money | small town | 

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Taglines:

Keihard En Confronterend (Rock Hard and In Your Face)

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Details

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

Dutch Turkish

Release Date:

24 April 2003 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Godforsaken!

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Box Office

Budget:

€1,027,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

BNN TV, IDTV Film, Rinkel Film & TV Productions BV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

The music on the radio played during the film are tracks from the Venga Boys. The movie takes place during 1993, but the music from the Vengaboys wasn't released until 1998/99.

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Connections

Remake of Van God Los (2011)

User Reviews

Good acting in a Dutch movie!

Despite the fact that I'm Dutch myself, I don't enjoy Dutch movies very often. Maybe it's because I grew up with (mostly) American movies or it's just because the Dutch movies aren't so good. Especially the acting is often far below the level of American or other foreign movies. It's just not convincing.

This movie however displays a high level of acting. Especially the part played by Tygo Gernandt (Maikel Verheije) is very good. You can literally see the adrenaline in his eyes from time to time.

The story is about a boy (Stan) who's having a boring life and is looking for some action. By coincidence he meets Maikel. Everybody knows he's a criminal but Stan sees an adventure ahead of him. And so they become 'partners in crime'. Maikel has another partner (Sef) with who Stan doesn't go along quite well.

During a robbery they 'accidentally' kill someone and when the local mafia gets to know it. They offer them a job to kill several people for them. As they get more jobs they loose their grip on reality.

The story of the movie is good but what makes the movie better than other Dutch movies is the acting. So there's still hope for the future of the Dutch movies. (8/10)