106. Desperado &...

Lyrics

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
You been out ridin' fences for so long now
Oh, you're a hard one
I know that you got your reasons
These things that are pleasin' you
Can hurt you somehow

Don' you draw the queen of diamonds, boy
She'll beat you if she's able
You know the queen of heats is always your best bet

Now it seems to me, some fine things
Have been laid upon your table
But you only want the ones that you can't get

Desperado, oh, you ain't gettin' no youger
Your pain and your hunger, they're drivin' you home
And freedom, oh freedom well, that's just some people talkin'
Your prison is walking through this world all alone

Don't your feet get cold in the winter time?
The sky won't snow and the sun won't shine
It's hard to tell the night time from the day
You're loosin' all your highs and lows
Ain't it funny how the feeling goes away?

Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you, before it's too late

Hotel California and The Last Resort are absolute classics, but The Eagles have never made another song that even comes close to those two. Desperado isn't bad though, and it allowed me to see/write about a (sort of) western again.

The Movie: The Misfits (John Huston, 1961)

I''ve previously written a post here on John Huston's The Maltese Falcon, which I absolutely loved. The Misfits could not be any more different than it. The Maltese Falcon had an incredibly tight screenplay, with a very precisely developed plot. Every scene, and every line helped build up the characters and move the story forward. The movie invited us to think and strategise with the characters, by making expertly clear how each development affected each character. The Misfits, on the other hand, hardly has any plot to speak off. Not much happens here. Very often the characters are quite confusingly written. 

While the characters may be a bit inconsistently written though, here, like in The Maltese Falcon, it is exactly clear what the characters desire: Marilyn Monroe. She has to some extent the same function as the falcon, with one major difference. In the Maltese Falcon, the falcon was the McGuffin. Here, everyone else is the McGuffin. Everybody in this film exists to illuminate Marilyn Monroe. Thus, while the film may not be entirely successful, it is very interesting as a historical document. I have rarely seen a movie so obsessed with a film star. We all know the discussions about how Hollywood attracts audiences to their movies. They glorify their stars and build an aura of perfection around them. The Misfits seems to be a rare example of Hollywood falling for its own illusion. It's basically an exploration of all the ways in which Marilyn Monroe is perfect. Watching The Misfits, one can easily understand why Monroe was so messed up and confused. Especially if we consider that the film was written by Monroe's partner Arthur Miller, and that their relationship ended before the film was finished. In this context, Monroe's performance here is quite impressive, especially because it seems to be so unselfconscious. While the movie is constantly glorifying, she is playing, or at least trying to play, Roslyn as a woman grounded in reality. This is especially clear in the scenes between her and Isabelle (Thelma Ritter). The relationship between the two woman feels like a very naturalistic portrayal of a friendship between two women, with the older woman being something of a mentor figure. 

Monroe is basically presented here as the mother of all living creatures, a well of empathy that never dries up. She basically serves to give meaning to the lives of the three main male characters, who are all in their own ways desperate men. Gay Langland (Clark Gable) is as IMDB rightly puts it an 'over the hill cowboy', whose children have abandoned him. Guido (Eli Wallach) is Gay's friend, whose wife died a long time ago. Lastly, Perce (Montgomery Clift) is the most tragic of them all. He's a cowboy who lost the family farm and now has to earn a living at dangerous rodeos. Roslyn's incredible kindness and care (and her butt; the movie has quite a lot of close ups of Monroe's behind shaking around) are nearly magical. Around her, all their problems seem to disappear. Monroe is damn near literally presented as a source of joy and comfort. As if that's not everything Monroe is incredibly athletic too. In one scene at a bar the customers are playing with one of those small, wooden tennis rackets that have a string with a small ball attached to them. Whomever can hit the ball 10 times in a row will get money. Most customers hardly get to five. Monroe gets to 10 and keeps going. She hits the ball about 50 times, maybe more. The sole function of that scene seems to be to show that Monroe is extraordinarily better at this small, insignificant game than nearly any other person in the world. And of course she doesn't want to keep the money she earns for herself. She gives to the poor, and to Perce.

Monroe's care and empathy is also reserved for animals. At the beginning of the film she doesn't let Gay kill a rabbit destroying her garden. This early scene foreshadows the climax of the film, when the three men and Monroe go mustanging (hunting wild horses in the Nevada mountains). When Monroe learns that these horses will be killed she throws a fit, threatening to leaves. Much drama ensues, but in the end the horses are let go. Monroe now becomes more than just the mother of all living creatures, she is the symbol of modernity and progress.

   



     

105. Limburg &...

Lyrics

't is een kwestie van geduld
rustig wachten op de dag
dat heel Holland Limburgs lult

Ik heb mien ganse lange leave gewacht
op d'n daag di mos koome en op de 
nacht
op alles wat ik woj mar wat ik noeit
kreeg
't waas te deur of te vroeg of te laat 
vur meej
wachte op succes en op de moeijen daag 
dat ik in de zon miene zeilboet laag
riek woj ik weare beroemd en gevierd
mar tot nou toe heb ik allien mar gelierd

Refrein

zoveul tied en zoveul energie
en amper iemand di meej kent zeg nou
wie
soms heb ik gedocht 't keumt dor aal dat beer
en met een vies gezicht zat ik mien glaas wir neer
of 't keumt dor 't eate ik leaf verkiert
haj ik voeger mar door gelierd
denke denke denke ik begreep 't neet mar ik wiet nou woar a leet

Refrein

want d'r keumt ennen daag dan loep ik dor Maastricht
dan zidde minse denke ik ken dat gezicht
dan loep ik over stroat en wer noa gerend
doar hedde di broemde ik bin herkend

Refrein

Refrein

Refrein

I am not translating these lyrics, because Rowwen Heze is band from the Southern Dutch province of Limburg, and they sing in dialect. That's all that matters. The movie I linked it to has nothing to do with the content of the song. It's just probably the most heralded Dutch movie set in Limburg. 

The Movie: Godforsaken (Van God Los) (Pieter Kuijpers, 2003)

The international title of this movie is probably better than its Dutch title. Van God Los does not translate literally to godforsaken. Rather it means 'detached from God', or 'separated from God'. That title was probably chosen because this film aims to be something of a Dutch Scorsese movie. More specifically, it wants to be a Dutch Goodfellas. It certainly has the right setting for it. While most of the Netherlands is protestant, Limburg is catholic, just like Scorsese's protagonists. Thus the movie is filled with catholic imagery. Unfortunately that's pretty much the extent to which the movie wants to engage with religion. We never see how Catholicism affects the character's lives. We don't see how they would act if they weren't separated from God.This is just a very straightforward film about the rise and fall of a bunch of gangsters, who don't even rise that highly.  

10 years ago this film was touted as one of the high points of contemporary Dutch cinema. Looking back at it, that's quite amazing, especially now that Dutch film is (slowly) experiencing something of a new wave. The masterpiece status of this film does not hold up, but it's not surprising that such an energetically directed movie was so highly regarded around 2003. The Dutch cinema was not in very good shape around the turn of the century. While this film tells a rather banal story, in a rather banal way, it cannot be denied that it is made with urgency, passion and care. Therefore it's not boring, even though you can pretty much guess every plot development. A major reason for that is Tygo Gernandt's performance. That is one thing that does hold up about this film. Gernandt became a star for playing a desperate, frighteningly uncontrolled gangster, and he is a joy to watch. It's an incredibly charismatic performance. That, and some colorful dialogue, is the main reason to see this movie.

104. Eagle &...

Lyrics

They came flying from far away, now I'm under their spell
I love hearing the stories that they tell
They've seen places beyond my land and they've found new horizons
They speak strangely but I understand

And I dream I'm an eagle
And I dream I can spread my wings
Flying high, high, I'm a bird in the sky
I'm an eagle that rides on the breeze
High, high, what a feeling to fly
Over mountains and forests and seas
And to go anywhere that I please

As all good friends we talk all night, and we fly wing to wing
I have questions and they know everything
There's no limit to what I feel, we climb higher and higher
Am I dreaming or is it all real?

Is it true I'm an eagle?
Is it true I can spread my wings?
Flying high, high, I'm a bird in the sky (I'm an eagle)
I'm an eagle that rides on the breeze
High, high, what a feeling to fly (What a feeling)
Over mountains and forests and seas
And to go anywhere that I please

If someone had to decide what he/she thinks of ABBA based on one song, this would probably I'd let them hear. This is to me the quintessential ABBA song. A simple, but effective and pleasant feel-good song, that's quietly quite melancholic. The movie I linked it to is practically the opposite of that, but it involves someone flying like an eagle, or rather a sparrow. 


The Movie: Bird People (Pascale Ferran, 2014)

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu would have called this movie Bird People or (Living in the Networked Economy). Bird People is a film that was both loved and hated last year. I loved it (more even than Birdman!), but I can certainly understand why people would hate this movie. It is perhaps more of an essay in film form than a classical narrative film.  I can imagine that if you haven't followed a college course on modern capitalist globalization, this film can be more obtuse than your average French art film. I don't know much about Pascale Ferran, but she has apparently studied at a famous French film school, whose alumni include Alain Resnais, Claire Denis and Costa Gavras. So it is not very surprising, to say the least, that she is interested in looking critically at modern capitalist globalization, which is what she does with Bird People. So I understand why people may not find this movie to their liking, just don't call it bad or pretentious. Ferran knows exactly what she's doing, at least until the final five minutes in which she tries to find some sort of narrative closure. That does not work, nor can it. There is not really a narrative to close.

The movie consists of two halves. In the first one we follow Gary Newman (Josh Charles), some business engineer staying in a hotel at a Paris airport. He has a meeting in Paris, and has to fly the next day to Dubai. The night after the meeting though he has an anxiety attack and decides he will leave everything behind, literally. He does not go to Dubai, quits his job, and leaves his wife during a brilliantly written Skype session, which is the best conventional scene in the movie. You can see why some critics found the name Newman kind of on the nose. It's a fair point. In the second half we follow Audrey Camuzet (Anais Demoustier), a chamber maid at the hotel. She is a bored teen/twenty-something, frustrated with her job. One night the electricity goes of in the hotel mysteriously and, even more mysteriously, for that night she turns into a bird who can fly around the (outskirts of the) hotel. Ferran wisely does not offer any explanation for this occurrence. It just happens. Even more impressive is the CGI. This is some of the most impressive low-key visual effects work you'll ever see.The sparrow is entirely computer-generated yet can not be distinguished at all from a real one. And its movements are perfectly executed, to the tiniest detail.    

Now, I'll get a bit more academical than usual. The fact that nearly the entire movie takes place at/near an airport matters. The airport is the most famous example of what the influential French philosopher Marc Augé calls a non-place. A non-place is a space or an institution that is "formed in relation to certain ends (like transit, commerce, transport or leisure)". It is "a space which cannot be defined as relational, historical, or concerned with identity, as opposed to a traditional place". Furthermore "a person entering the space of non-place is relieved of his usual determinants. He becomes no more than what he does or experiences in the role of passenger, customer or driver. The space of non-place creates neither singular identity nor relations, only solitude and similitude. There is no room for history, unless it has been transformed into an element of spectacle". So non-places are quite alienating, they are places where no one feels at home. This is why there is absolutely nothing wrong with what is probably the most criticized scene in the movie. At one point Audrey the sparrow is flying above the airport, and we see the airport from her point of view. Which means that we see a lot of buildings from above, and notice that most of them are quite similar and quite odd looking. Also we cannot distinguish what building is meant for what. During these scene, on the soundtrack we hear David Bowie singing Space Oddity. Many found this tacky, but it is not. It is simply the simplest, and most effective, way to convey a rather complicated message.

The points regarding the absence of history and identity also become very clear in both halves of the movie. While at the hotel there is indeed no room for history for Gary. He decides to shred his entire past life and live only in the present. Interestingly enough there doesn't seem to be any future for Gary either.After he leaves both his job and his wife, he is free to do whatever he wants. He can leave the hotel, and do whatever he wants. Yet as the film progresses, we sometimes lose sight of him, but he never gets much further than the airport, and we always find him back at his hotel room eventually. He can't seem to go either forward or backward. As for Audrey, well she literally loses her entire identity in the second half, and becomes nothing more than she experiences as a sparrow. Her romantic and financial problems are entirely forgotten.

Now, for Augé, non-place is not a derogatory term, just a descriptive one. For many modern (critical) globalization scholars though, it is a term which has negative connotations. After all, if in a non-place you only experience stuff as customer, that means that you only matter as a consumer. Which means that it are spaces where capitalism can exert its full power. Considering many modern globalization scholars are Marxist scholars, they consequently believe these non-places suck. Ferran clearly believes so too. In nearly ever shot we see famous corporate brands, their logos and their slogans. Ferran also constantly underlines the irony between these slogans and the people around them. Most slogans convey a message about going forward, or about movement, while most people we meet seem to be stuck.

The power of capitalism is also visible around airports, because at airports class differences are emphasized as the following quote by scholar Matthew Sparke exemplifies: "Club-class passengers still move with significant speed in the comfy cosmopolitan circuits created by international conference trips, international tourism and international family get-togethers. For the world's working classes and for those subject to security risk codification, by contrast, being in the kinetic underclass has altogether more oppressive and more unpredictable outcomes, including, not least of all, much more volatile mixes of movement and immobility. The experience of immobility in these cases means something entirely different to the petty class resentments that come with seeing business suits and Lexus cars speed by in NEXUS lanes". This is by the way a quote from my master thesis, so you can see why I go on about this so much. I wish I saw Bird People when I was writing it, because the film is basically a visual version of one of my chapters. And yes, Ferran does also 'visualize' Sparke's quote. From the beginning of the film on she clearly differentiates between the luxurious lives of the hotel/airport consumers and the tough conditions in which the personnel lives and works. In one of the more ironic scenes of the movie we see that the well-groomed hotel receptionist doesn't have a home. He lives in his car. And it's certainly not a coincidence that he is not of French ethnicity. 

Ferran is lastly also interested in how modern technology is affecting our lives and how it compresses time and space. This can be seen in the context of Manuel Castells' ideas on the network economy and his concepts of timeless time and the space of flows. Ferran's use of clocks, and how she constantly reminds of how much time has passed between scenes is very interesting in this regard. She does all this in a very clever way. If nothing else this film shows that Ferran has a very great eye for framing shots. You don't necessarily need to care/know much about globalization theory to enjoy it. It can also be enjoyed simply because it is a great achievement in visual storytelling.

   


    

103. Where The Streets Have No Name &...

I wanna run, I want to hide
I wanna tear down the walls
That hold me inside.
I wanna reach out
And touch the flame
Where the streets have no name.

I wanna feel sunlight on my face.
I see the dust-cloud
Disappear without a trace.
I wanna take shelter
From the poison rain
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name.

We're still building and burning down love
Burning down love.
And when I go there
I go there with you
(It's all I can do).

The city's a flood, and our love turns to rust.
We're beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled in dust.
I'll show you a place
High on a desert plain
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name.

We're still building and burning down love
Burning down love.
And when I go there
I go there with you
(It's all I can do).

This is one of those U2 songs I don't much care about. Also, for the purposes of this blog, the post-apocalyptic lyrics depicting a New York in disarray come in handy.. But objectively speaking, it feels like they are added to a perfectly fine romantic song, in order to imbue it with ostensibly deep meaning.

The Movie: Escape from New York (John Carpenter, 1981)

Since the financial crisis in 2008 many blockbusters share a post-apocalyptic theme. It's one reason why I am not very infatuated with modern blockbuster cinema. It is annoying, mostly because the majority of these films only employ these themes as a shortcut to poignancy, without really having an idea what they are talking about. Also I do not believe that any time soon our world will turn into an apocalyptic wasteland, but the problems that have people fearing such scenarios are very real. Yet these movies do not care about these problems, for these movies these problems are simply McGuffins, existing only to justify a post-apocalyptic aesthetic, It's not a surprise why Hollywood producers like to finance these films. It makes them look relevant and politically concerned, without threatening their position. The worst offender of this is perhaps Elysium, which makes it seem as if Neill Blomkamp cannot wait for the apocalypse, because it'll involve very cool robots.This is all kind of offensive, but I must admit I would be far less indignant about all this, if I didn't just find it so damn boring. These are ugly looking movies, shot as drably as possible, and filled with joyless, deeply serious 'gritty' heroes, who fight even duller villains. Because they lack the courage of their convictions they are afraid to allow for light entertainment, and thus every entertaining moment is ruined, because the filmmakers never want us to forget they are serious men dealing with serious stuff.

Escape from New York is better than most of these movies, if only because John Carpenter does know what he is talking about. This is the first movie of his I've seen, but from the moment that a bunch of communists hijack the Air Force One and fly into New York protesting the police state America has become, it is clear that Carpenter very much understands what he is criticizing in this film, and who has to be the target of his critique. This did not surprise me very much, because while I haven't seen it I am familiar with Carpenter's They Live, and the famous clips from that movie. Because of that I expected much more from Escape from New York. There is not a scene here that is nearly as fun as the 'Chew Bubblegum' scene. Apart from that, I don't really understand how this Kurt Russell role became so iconic. He is a great actor who revels in chewing the scenery while uttering colorful dialogue. Here he gets to give a rather one-note performance full of dull one-liners.

My main problem with Escape from New York may be that Carpenter controls the pace of this movie a bit too well. After 10 minutes I thought I was gonna be in for a treat. Carpenter set up his movie perfectly, while including a truly wonderful dolly shot. Yet after those 10 minutes it felt like he continued to set up his movie. It never felt like the film shifted into another gear. The movie simply never really grabbed me. I did not expect to like Wuthering Heights (considerably) more than Escape from New York, but here we are, Still, this is not without its pleasures. Carpenter has a lot of fun experimenting with light, colors and shadows. Especially during the night scenes (it is funny how Carpenter contrives his narrative in such a way that despite the fact that the film takes place over a period of 24 hours, more than 3/4 of the scenes take place at night) it seems as if no shot is lit in the same way. A nice highlight was Kurt Russel's flight into Manhattan when he is seemingly surrounded by a red glow. Furthermore there are some nice absurdist touches such as Isaac Hayes car which is decorated with bizarre chandeliers. Ultimately though the film is saved, as many are, by Harry Dean Stanton's performance. He enjoys enormously playing Brain, a cowardly, but intelligent pragmatist who constantly changes sides based on what's best for him.

102. Wuthering Heights &...

Lyrics

Out on the wily, windy moors 
We'd roll and fall in green 
You had a temper like my jealousy 
Too hot, too greedy 

How could you leave me 
When I needed to possess you? 
I hated you, I loved you too 

Bad dreams in the night 
You told me I was going to lose the fight 
Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering 
Wuthering Heights 

Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home 
I'm so cold, let me in your window 
Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home 
I'm so cold, let me in your window 

Ooh, it gets dark, it gets lonely 
On the other side from you 
I pine a lot, I find the lot 
Falls through without you 

I'm coming back, love 
Cruel Heathcliff, my one dream 
My only master 

Too long I roamed in the night 
I'm coming back to his side to put it right 
I'm coming home to wuthering, wuthering 
Wuthering Heights 

Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home 
I'm so cold, let me in your window 
Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home 
I'm so cold, let me in your window 

Ooh, let me have it 
Let me grab your soul away 
Ooh, let me have it 
Let me grab your soul away 
You know it's me, Cathy 

Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home 
I'm so cold, let me in your window 
Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home 
I'm so cold, let me in your window 
Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home 
I'm so cold 

Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home 
I'm so cold, yeah 

It's me, Cathy, I've come home 
I'm so cold, yeah

I really, really dislike Kate Bush's music, including this song. But that's absolutely my own fault. Kate Bush is without a doubt a great artist. Her style is not just very singular and specific, but there is clearly also an idea behind it. This is how Bush wants to express herself, and she does so successfully. She achieves exactly what she aims to in her own personal, inimitable way, and it's quite remarkable how much popular success that has brought her. It's not my style, but you won't see anyone like her hitting the pop charts anytime soon. It's also quite unfortunate that there haven't been more pop songs that are basically adaptations/commentaries of/on literary classics.

The Movie: Wuthering Heights (William Wyler, 1939)

I am not the perfect person to write this piece, as I haven't actually read Emily Brontë's classic. I did like the movie quite a bit, but it gave me the impression that William Wyler is a far better director than Brontë is a writer. After watching the movie I read that Brontë didn't have any romantic experience when writing her novel, and it didn't surprise me. I found the story to be at times profoundly silly, though this may also be the fault of Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht, the screenwriters of this film. Perhaps they misread the novel, or didn't really adapt it well enough. After all, according to Wikipedia the novel was considered controversial because 'its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark' and because 'it challenged the Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality'. The movie does that too, but kind of halfheartedly. It is much more interested in being a mood piece, in capturing the mysterious spirit of the moors.

This is also a film that manages to combine different genres and modes of storytelling, without ever feeling tonally all over place. There are scenes at the beginning of the film, which make it seem like a British western. We meet Mr. Earnshaw and Heathcliff when they arrive at 'Wuthering Heights' from Liverpool, but we hardly see them there. The house seems to be in the middle of nowhere in Brittain, surrounded by large plains on which the young Cathy and Heathcliff ride horses. And when Heathcliff declares himself a prince at Peniston Rock, he is shot and framed as a hero from a classic adventure film, or from a medieval story. Moreover these shots are accompanied by an appropriate score, I also quite liked how it manages to combine the Gothic/horrific with the mundane. Wuthering Heights is basically a pretty normal farm, only made mysterious because of the mood Wyler creates around it. It is often surrounded by those wily winds Bush sings about, and by threatening thunderstorms, which seem to be more than mere storms, but portents of doom. It is basically a movie which imbues ordinary things and proceedings with horror. Late in the movie there is a party at the Lintons where all the main characters are gathered, and where they will act in ways that will have a profound effect at their lives. At the party is also a woman playing the piano, on which there is not much emphasis for much of the scene. Yet when she is about to end playing the we suddenly see a close-up of her arm as she is about to hit the final keys. This close-up basically resembles a shot from a horror movie, that signals that horrific things are about to happen. That shot signals that, but Wyler also suggests that the piano player could be the catalyst for these things to happen. That if she didn't hit those last keys, maybe all the characters would make other decisions.

There are a lot of similar suggestions in the film, and that is why the movie works. Taken on itself, the movie's plot is what Roger Ebert called an Idiot Plot. The characters are indeed hindered by class distinctions, but these aren't really developed enough, and you get the feeling that all of their lives would be much better if they weren't such idiots and solved their easily solvable misunderstandings. But they live in the moors. And here unseen, special forces are at work in the moors. Basically the characters behave irrationally, because the spirits of the moors force them to behave irrationally. Heathcliff and Cathy are the only ones who are vaguely aware of these forces and that's why the movie believes they should be together. Their strongest bond is basically their mutual belief that there is grand beauty in the heath. As these are very Romantic ideals, I assume the movie is faithful to the novel in this regard. It's also probably relatively faithful in what Wikipedia called 'its depiction of mental and physical cruelty'. These characters are unpleasant, bad people, and the movie does not pretend otherwise, but it doesn't moralize either. It absolutely believes Heathclifff, who is to say it non-euphemistically the biggest asshole of them all,  and Cathy should be together, but simply because they love each other, not because they are somehow more decent than the rest of the characters.

Lastly, I find it amusing how much the Wuthering Heights movies connote that Heathcliff and Cathy should be together, through casting alone. Here Heathcliff is played by Laurence Olivier, while Edgar is played by David Niven. Niven is a respected actor, but he is no Olivier. In other movies the difference is even more stark. In the 1992 version Heathcliff is played by Ralph Fiennes, while Linton is played by someone named Simon Shepherd who looks like a stereotypical villain. And in a 1970 version Heathcliff is played by future Bond Timothy Dalton, while Linton is some Ian Ogilvy. Lastly I assume the 1992 version is not a better film than the 1939 version. This is just not a story suited to the style of 90's film making. But it's very probable that the romance between Cathy and Heathcliff is more believable there, mostly because 1992 Cathy is played by Juliette Binoche, while 1939 Cathy is played by Merle Oberon, who seems to be not a very good actress. The way she acts in her death scene is comically awful even.






  

101. Oerend Hard &...

\

Lyrics

Ik zegge oeh!

(Say oeh!)
Ik zegge aah!

(Say aah!)
Ik zegge oeh!

(Say oeh!)
Aah! (aah!)

Oehoe oehoerend hard

(Rip-roaringly fast)
Kwamen zie doar aangescheurd
(They rode in)

Oehoe oehoerend hard

(Rip-roaringly fast)
Want zie hadden van de motorcross geheurd

(Cause they heard about the motor cross)

Langzaam ri-jen dat deeen zie nooit

(Drive slowly, was something they never did)
Dat vonden zie toch maar tied verknooid

(They saw that as wasted time)
Bertus op zien Norton

Bertus on his Norton)
En Tinus op de BSA

(And Tinus on the BSA)

Noar de motorcross op het Hengelse Zand

(To the motor cross at Hengelse Zand)
De hoender en de vrouwe

(The chicks and the wives)
Die stoven aan de kant

(They stood aside)
Bertus op zien Norton

(Bertus on his Norton)
En Tinus op de BSA
(And Tinus on the BSA)

Zie gingen oeh, oehoe oehoe

(The went rip-roaringly)
Oehoe oehoe oehoerend hard

(Rip-roaringly fast)
Zie gingen oeh, oehoe oehoe

(They went rip-roaringly)
Oehoe oehoe oehoerend hard
(Rip-roaringly fast)

Oehoe oehoerend hard

(Rip-roaringly fast)
Scheurden zie noa de cross naar hun huus

(They rode back home after the cross)
Oehoe oehoerend hard

(Rip-roaringly fast)
Want dan waren zie eerder thuus

(Cause then they would be home earlier)

Zie hadden alderbastend gein gehad

(The both had had great fun)
Zie waren allebei een heel klein beetjen zat

(The both were just a little bit drunk)
Bertus op zien Norton en Tinus op de BSA

(Bertus on his Norton, and Tinus on the BSA)

An 't gevoar hadden zie nog nooit gedacht

(They never thought about the danger)
Zie waren koning op de weg en dachten: "Alles mag"

(They were kings of the road and thought "Anything is allowed")
Bertus op zien Norton en Tinus op de BSA

(Bertus on his Norton and Tinus on the BSA)

Zie gingen oeh, oehoe oehoe

(They went rip-roaringly)
Oehoe oehoe oehoerend hard

(Rip-roaringly fast)
Zie gingen oeh, oehoe oehoe

(They went rip-roaringly)
Oehoe oehoe oehoerend hard

(Rip-roaringly fast)

Maar zoals altied kwam an dat gejakker een end

(But as always all that roaring around came to an end)
Deur 'n zatte kearl die de snelheid van een motor niet kent

(At the hands of a drunk fellow who doesn't now a motor's speed)
Bertus ri-j d'r op en Tinus kwam d'r vlak achteran

(Bertus rode at it, and was soon followed by Tinus)
En iedereen die zei: Van die leu heur i-j nooit meer wat van

(And everybody said: You won't hear anything of these chaps again)

Zie gingen nooit, nee nee nooit

(They never, never)
Nooit meer oerend hard

(Never rode rip-roaringly fast anymore

Zie gingen nooit, nee nee nooit

(They never, never)
Nooit meer oerend hard

(Never rode rip-roaringly fast anymore

En wie goat oeh, oehoe oehoe

(And who will ride rip-roaringly)
Oehoe oehoe oehoerend hard

(Rip-roaringly fast)

Hell yeah, Dutch biker rock! This is quite an odd duck in this list, especially this high. Rock is popular obviously, but Dutch rock not so much. This is a very atypical popular Dutch song. First of all the emphasis is on the instruments, and not on the singing voices. Secondly, the song wants to win you over by its style. It's joyously freewheeling. These are musicians who above all want to show you that they have fun singing and writing songs about tragic bikers. And they want you to have fun with them. Too many Dutch artists when confronted with a story as told by this song, will try to win you over by emoting as much as possible, they want you to know that their protagonists suffer and that the artists themselves get that; that they can identify. This means that many of the greatest and most popular Dutch songs are really quite dramatic slugs. Oerend Hard on the other hand is a joyous, charmingly tragic song that seems directly influenced by the American biker/antihero movies of the 60's and early 70's.

The Movie: The Wild Angels (Roger Corman, 1966) 

The obvious choice to link Oerend Hard would be Easy Rider of course, but that movie will always be linked to Born in the Wild. Besides, I don't like Easy Rider at all. I think it's fairly dull, and too much in love with protagonists who are totally uninteresting. It only comes alive during the few minutes Jack Nicholson is on screen, and I don't really look forward to seeing the film again. It's quite a shame, because I find the ideas it tries to articulate, and the mood it tries to convey, quite interesting. I like movies of its ilk, but I think that most of the movies that influenced, and were influenced by Easy Rider, are far better than it. So is The Wild Angels.

The Wild Angels also stars Peter Fonda. He plays Heavenly Blues, the leader of a group of California bikers without much of an ideology. All they know is that they have to disobey 'the man'. They mostly get high, ride their bikes, and break the laws in all kinds of ways. They act in much the same way as Harold and Maude, and share much of their beliefs too. But this is a far better film than Harold and Maude. The Wild Angels is in fact something like The Wolf of Wall Street, set in the world of LA biker gangs. It absolutely sees and understands why the lifestyle of these people is appealing. But it also calls them out on their bullshit. It shows, without ever losing its sense of fun and turning into a moralizing screed, how these are mostly a bunch of egoistical idiots who aren't fighting for some grand ideals. And it's not 'the man' who is hurt by them, but the underprivileged ones. The Wild Angels aren't underdogs; they have the power. This is even said out loud by Peter Fonda's character after his gang beats up a couple of Hispanics, because they may have stolen the bike of a fellow gang member.

Heavenly Blues' best friend is Loser (Bruce Dern). After the altercation with the Hispanics, he is shot in the back by the police and ends up in a hospital. He would be fine, if not for the Angels, fearing that Loser would end up in jail, kidnapping him from the hospital and bringing him back to their 'headquarters', draped in Nazy symbolism. These scenes are perhaps most indicative of this film's mood. They are both incredibly funny, and incredibly revealing. They mercilessly expose the Wild Angels as a bunch of bumbling, pathetic fools. One of them tries to rape Loser's nurse, while their own doctor is late, because he couldn't start his scooter. Of course Loser dies, and this leads to the grand set-piece of the movie, Loser's funeral in his hometown. The Wild Angels turn it into an enormous orgy/acid trip that is a wonderfully filmed set-piece, full of absurd visual jokes.

At the end of it though it is quite clear that there is nothing heroic about The Wild Angels. They are nothing but a bunch of bullies without a cause, who turn the town folk against them. It leads to Fonda's final line: "There's nowhere to go", which is expressing the same sentiment as Easy Rider's most famous line :"We blew it". Despite the fact that the movie thinks that these bikers are idiotic, and has a lot fun showing it, it is also very much about how regrettable it is that it had to all go this way. A scene in which Fonda turns on the radio and we hear about Vietnam is indicative of this. The movie very much believes that it's worth fighting against 'the man', and it believes genuinely in the 1960's idea(l)s about freedom and the counterculture. It believes that they could have brought about genuine change. It is therefore even more disappointed in The Wild Angels.

    

100. Aan de Kust &...

Lyrics 

De zoute zee slaakt een diepe zilte zucht.

(De salty sea lets out a long, briny sigh) 
Boven het vlakke land trilt stil de warme lucht.

(Over the flat land, the warm air vibrates silently) 
Iemand slaat soms onverwacht maar zeker op de vlucht.

(Certainly sometimes somebody will flee unexpectedly)  
Alarmfase Twee is hier nauwelijks nog berucht. 

(Alert 2 is hardly notorious here anymore)
Maar men weet het niet en zwijgt van wat men hoort en ziet

(But one doesn't know, and keeps silent about what one hears and sees). 

Hier aan de kust, de Zeeuwse kust 

(Here at the coast, the Zeelandic coast)
Waar de mensen onbewust. Zin in mosselfeesten krijgen

(Where the people unconsciouscly feel like having musselfeasts) 
En van eten slechts nog zwijgen. Als ze zat zijn en voldaan 

(And they keep silent about food. When they are drunk and satisfied)
Dan weer rustig slapen gaan. 

(They go to sleep)

Hier aan de kust, de Zeeuwse kust

(Here at the coast, the Zeelandic coast) 
Waar een ieder onbewust 

(Where everybody unconsciouscly)
In het Duits wordt aangesproken. Waar de ketting is gebroken. 
(Is adressed in German. Where the chain is broken)

En alle schepen zijn verbrand. 

(And all the ships are burnt)
Maar er is niets aan de hand

(But everything is OK). 

Vlissingen ademt zwaar en moedeloos vannacht. 

(Vlissingen breathes heavily and despondently tonight)
De haven is verlaten, want er is nog maar een vracht 

(The port is abandoned, because there is just one freight left)
En die moet in het donker buitengaats worden gebracht. 

(And it has to be brought ashore in the dark)

Gedenkt de goede tijden van zuiverheid en kracht. 

(Remember the good times of purity and power)
Maar men weet het niet 

(But one does not know it)
En zwijgt van wat men hoort en ziet.

(And keeps silent about what one hears and sees) 

Hier aan de kust, de Zeeuwse kust 

(Here at the coast, the Zeelandic coast)
Waar de zomer onbewust. 

(Where the summer unconsciously)
Met een noodgang wordt genoten. 

(Is enjoyed immensely)
En waar wild en onverdroten

(And where wildly and assidiously) 
Iedereen zijn gang kan gaan. 

(Everybody can do what he wants)
Tot men zat is en voldaan 

(Untile one is drunk and satisfied)

Hier aan de kust, de Zeeuwse kust

(Here at the coast, the Zeelandic coast). 
Waar de liefde van de lust 

(Where love will keep on)
Steeds maar weer zal gaan verliezen.

(Being beaten by lust) 
Omdat ze nooit kan kiezen

(Because she can't ever choose) 
Tussen goed en niet zo kwaad. 

(Between good and not so evil)
Maar het is zoals het gaat. 

(But it is at it goes)
Hier aan de kust.

(Here at the coast)

Holy hell. Blof is famous for writing gibberish lyrics, but this is horrible even by their own standards. At a most basic level, they seem not to know how to use conjunctions in a proper way. They also try to be poetic by juxtaposing or connecting two terms that are opposites of one another. It can obviously be poetic, but not in the way Blof does it here. "Certainly sometimes somebody will flee unexpectedly" is an example of how this attempt at poetry only produces nonsense. That lyric is also pretty exemplary for another reason. As it is the case with many other lyrics, it is entirely unclear what the purpose of it is in the song as a whole, or what they really want to say with it. Having said that, I find this a pretty enjoyable song, and musically it is probably Blof's best. I linked it to a movie about the most famous event involving Zeeland. 

The Movie: The Storm (De Storm) (Ben Sombogaart, 2009)

De Storm was marketed as the first Dutch blockbuster. It's quite fitting than that the so-called Watersnoodramp in 1953 was chosen as the subject for it. On the night of January 31 the province of Zeeland was struck by an enormous flood, that eventually caused the deaths of 1836 people in the Netherlands (about 300 more died in England). Unsurprisingly this has become a defining moment in Dutch history. Not only because it was one of the biggest natural disasters to struck the nation, but also because it led to the Dutch becoming the leading experts in the world on water protection. The disaster led to the construction of the Delta works, a series of, to quote Wikipedia, "dams, sluices, locks, dykes, levees and storm surge barriers" that serve to protect the Dutch coast from the water of the North Sea. The Delta works are technological marvels, and are considered one of the most important and revolutionary technological constructions in modern history. So if one Dutch event deserves to get a blockbuster treatment it is this one. It's therefore quite unfortunate that De Storm isn't a better movie. It's certainly not bad, but there was clearly potential here for something much better. 

To be fair though, the movie achieves what is most important. It manages to convey the enormity of the disaster. And especially the opening scenes are quite exceptional. One of the opening shots is a simple one of a resolute, spirited young woman (main character Julia, played by Sylvia Hoeks) riding a bike through the storm. It's a rather perfect image to start a movie such as this. It's a distinctly Dutch image. At the same time it's a simple and straightforward evocation of the Dutch national identity, or rather of what the Dutch believe the Watersnoodramp says about their national identity. It doesn't take long until the storm really severs, and we see a rather impressive scene in which Julia, her baby, her sister and her mother hide in their farmhouse trying to hide from the rising water. They fail, the water rises up to the upper floor, and Julia's sister and her mother drown. In the next scene marine Aldo, stationed in the north of Holland (Barry Atsma) flies in by helicopter trying to find his mother and brother. We get a couple of helicopter shots showing the devastation of Zeeland. It's quite a chilling scene especially once the pilot exclaims that 'Zeeland has ceased to exist'. Obviously Zeeland still exists, but the movie shows that this was a not unreasonable thought to have at the time. Also in just two scenes the movie has very effectively shown the devastation of the flood both on an individual and a national level. So the start is promising especially once Julia accidentally floats away from her baby, nearly drowns, and is saved by Aldo, who doesn't realize she has a baby. She is taken to a hospital, and when she gets to her senses, she starts searching for her lost baby together with Aldo. This is basically the perfect, simple setup for such a film. It also has two sympathetic, good actors (Hoeks, more so than Atsma), so nothing can go wrong you think. Unfortunately a lot goes wrong, especially at the end. 

The movie complicates stuff needlessly. Besides just being a blockbuster it also wants to say something about life in the Zeelandic village communities in the 1950's. It presents a society which is still very much ruled by Protestant norms and values. So Julia, as a single mother, is shunned by the other villagers and seen as a disgrace to her family. This is why her father refuses to speak to her or look at her baby. Matters become even more complicated when it turns out that Aldo is the brother of the father of Julia's baby, who was to be her husband, only left her the moment he found out she was pregnant. All these people eventually meet at a hotel where many of the survivors are being sheltered. It becomes immediately clear to the audience that Julia's baby is here too, and who has it, and why. Yet the movie keeps sending Julia and Aldo out in a boat to search for her baby all over Zeeland.. This leads to very dull scenes, which mostly consist of Julia and Aldo bickering/making up while rowing aimlessly in a boat. Eventually Julia and Aldo give up the search, only for the movie to cut to 1971 and a ceremony where the heroes of 1953 are ordained. In these final 10 minutes of the movie the exact things happen you expect to happen, in the way you expect them to happen. It's clear that the movie wanted to be a dramatic/romantic epic and a blockbuster. For a blockbuster it's needlessly complicated, and for an epic it is heavily underwritten. The movie should have gotten rid of the dramatic developments and be a simple story of survival, or it should have fleshed out these developments more. Now it tries to be two things at once, and (although it's always engaging) it doesn't fully succeed as either.