I do not understand how some people can classify this a masterpiece. It's junk: the storyline(s), the dialogs, the editing, the year 1963 is not accurately portrayed.
Some examples: One of the (young) female actors escapes by faking that she is an doctor of medicine. In 1963 female doctors were very rare. The girl is about 20/22 years of ages, but she is taken seriously in her profession.
The automobiles in the movie have YELLOW license plates, which were not introduced in the Netherlands before the early '80. The plates in 1963 were BLUE. The movie makers did feel the urge to take a simple screwdriver to fix the accurate plates. It tells you something about the amount of effort the movie makers are willing to put in their masterpiece.
Then there is the story, which is an assembly of 4 stories, portrayed by 4 individuals that meet on the ice (3 men and 1 woman). They all have the same goal: to finish the race. Good idea, but it does not work. There are some unnecessary sidelines that distract from the main story lines. As a viewer you are hopping between the 4 story lines without feeling the intended emotions. The music is rather good. It could have taken me if there was anything to cling to.
The dialogs do not fit in the year 1963. The sentences are full of 21th-century-vocabulairy. People talked and behaved differently in 1963. The movie makers never seem to bother. So, the feeling of being in the 60ties did never hit me.
The accidents on the ice are disappointing. Some scenes in the movie are just tasteless. One of the main characters gets very hungry on the ice and starts hallucinating. The visualization of this looks like a poorly made you tube clip.
Some of the special effects were nice. The cold weather is visualized by wolves that run through the clouds. They seem to be edited randomly and do not come to their full potential, but it looked nice. The ice, snow and wind are well done, also.
Overall, I am disappointed. A monumental ice race, like the Elfstedentocht, deserves more respect than this.
Some examples: One of the (young) female actors escapes by faking that she is an doctor of medicine. In 1963 female doctors were very rare. The girl is about 20/22 years of ages, but she is taken seriously in her profession.
The automobiles in the movie have YELLOW license plates, which were not introduced in the Netherlands before the early '80. The plates in 1963 were BLUE. The movie makers did feel the urge to take a simple screwdriver to fix the accurate plates. It tells you something about the amount of effort the movie makers are willing to put in their masterpiece.
Then there is the story, which is an assembly of 4 stories, portrayed by 4 individuals that meet on the ice (3 men and 1 woman). They all have the same goal: to finish the race. Good idea, but it does not work. There are some unnecessary sidelines that distract from the main story lines. As a viewer you are hopping between the 4 story lines without feeling the intended emotions. The music is rather good. It could have taken me if there was anything to cling to.
The dialogs do not fit in the year 1963. The sentences are full of 21th-century-vocabulairy. People talked and behaved differently in 1963. The movie makers never seem to bother. So, the feeling of being in the 60ties did never hit me.
The accidents on the ice are disappointing. Some scenes in the movie are just tasteless. One of the main characters gets very hungry on the ice and starts hallucinating. The visualization of this looks like a poorly made you tube clip.
Some of the special effects were nice. The cold weather is visualized by wolves that run through the clouds. They seem to be edited randomly and do not come to their full potential, but it looked nice. The ice, snow and wind are well done, also.
Overall, I am disappointed. A monumental ice race, like the Elfstedentocht, deserves more respect than this.