In a relatively small country like The Netherlands it is difficult to produce movies that take place in a different time and place than present day Holland. The amount of money needed to recreate the past or suggest a foreign landscape is impossible to recoup with even a highly successful Dutch movie. A solution often found is to take the filming to Eastern Europe, where ancient locations are easily found and labor is cheap.
For this movie the production took to Italy, to give the imaginary country of Katoren a late medieval and Mediterranean feel. For the most part this works: the villages and buildings have a certain charm, and sometimes an almost alien atmosphere. Combined with the creation of a bureaucratic dictatorship and outskirts of the country which resemble Austria, a Dutch high tower suburb and an American desert, it is familiar and strange at the same time, exactly the way this parable of a hero who wants to become king of his country by solving five tasks needs to be. The writer of the book on which the film is based wanted to show children the serious problems of society (environmental pollution, religious division) and their possible solutions by abstracting them as well as making them tangible. Together with the acting these are the assets of this movie.
However, Italy is also a weak point. The Italian extras, needed to fill the cities and town squares as habitants of Katoren, often don't seem to know in what kind of movie they're in, what they're supposed to do and some, perhaps in a leap of ambition to European stardom, act like they're doing Sophocles. The building posing as the regal palace is covered in green mold. The ministerial chamber is a derelict room with dust on the floor. To keep believing in the script one needs to close one's eyes to these shortcomings, because the reality of filming is seeping through relentlessly.
The script is another foible. A Dutch broadcaster co-produced, and sometimes you wonder if you're watching a marathon of television episodes: each task is introduced with a journey, an acquaintance and the slow unfolding of the assignment in the same careful pacing. The solution sometimes is painstakingly easy (the Pantaar suddenly deciding to sacrifice himself), and Stach seems to thrive more on luck than wisdom or even drive to make Katoren a better place. When the apprentice journalist asks him why he wants to be king, he answers: 'To be cheered by the crowds.' An honest answer but not one to expect from a hero.
The ending is being stretched to its limits, and when Stach finally becomes the King, by landing in a pile of pillows and a muddle of confused Italian extras, the movie is suddenly over. Two hours feel like almost three, and a greater efficiency in storytelling would have benefited the rhythm of the movie as well as the use of locations and props that now seem to be expensively prepared for unnecessary scenes.
For this movie the production took to Italy, to give the imaginary country of Katoren a late medieval and Mediterranean feel. For the most part this works: the villages and buildings have a certain charm, and sometimes an almost alien atmosphere. Combined with the creation of a bureaucratic dictatorship and outskirts of the country which resemble Austria, a Dutch high tower suburb and an American desert, it is familiar and strange at the same time, exactly the way this parable of a hero who wants to become king of his country by solving five tasks needs to be. The writer of the book on which the film is based wanted to show children the serious problems of society (environmental pollution, religious division) and their possible solutions by abstracting them as well as making them tangible. Together with the acting these are the assets of this movie.
However, Italy is also a weak point. The Italian extras, needed to fill the cities and town squares as habitants of Katoren, often don't seem to know in what kind of movie they're in, what they're supposed to do and some, perhaps in a leap of ambition to European stardom, act like they're doing Sophocles. The building posing as the regal palace is covered in green mold. The ministerial chamber is a derelict room with dust on the floor. To keep believing in the script one needs to close one's eyes to these shortcomings, because the reality of filming is seeping through relentlessly.
The script is another foible. A Dutch broadcaster co-produced, and sometimes you wonder if you're watching a marathon of television episodes: each task is introduced with a journey, an acquaintance and the slow unfolding of the assignment in the same careful pacing. The solution sometimes is painstakingly easy (the Pantaar suddenly deciding to sacrifice himself), and Stach seems to thrive more on luck than wisdom or even drive to make Katoren a better place. When the apprentice journalist asks him why he wants to be king, he answers: 'To be cheered by the crowds.' An honest answer but not one to expect from a hero.
The ending is being stretched to its limits, and when Stach finally becomes the King, by landing in a pile of pillows and a muddle of confused Italian extras, the movie is suddenly over. Two hours feel like almost three, and a greater efficiency in storytelling would have benefited the rhythm of the movie as well as the use of locations and props that now seem to be expensively prepared for unnecessary scenes.
