Ruud Lubbers was the Dutch prime minister between 1982 and 1994. Without doubt he was one of the most gifted prime ministers since WWII. He always had both feet planted firmly in the air (pun intended). Therefore the TV series "Land van Lubbers" deserves a warm welcome. The producers have decided to focus their narrative on four events, which are more or less typical for the career of Lubbers. They are the oil crisis in 1973, the placing of nuclear cruise missiles (1985), the foundation of the European Union (1992), and the failed election campaign in 1994. Of course this selection is somewhat arbitrary. But this is not a problem, since the producers choose to focus on the relations, not on themes. Politics consists of conflicts, where everyone shoots from the lip (pun intended). The plot concerns a series of lectures to students, given by Lubbers himself as an elderly statesman. The contents of his lecture is presented in the form of flashbacks. This is a witty find, because it means that Lubbers comments in retrospect on his own behavior. The quick-witted politician has changed into a thoughtful old man. And I mean really old, his blood type is discontinued. But OK, old age is not so bad, when you consider the alternative. The series is reasonably convincing in portraying the characters of Lubbers and his political entourage. Trust me, I know Dutch politics. However, a significant part of the story concerns his domestic life, and that is unfamiliar to me. These scenes may well be fictional. For instance, he is chasing women and does not remember why. Since the time period covers my road to adulthood, the pictures made me feel somewhat nostalgic. On the other hand, none of the scenes are truly impressive or emotionally stirring. There are no surprises, either pleasant or not. Still, the series probably deserves a recommendation, since it is entertaining from the beginning until the end. The subtitles are in Dutch, which is close to German. Don't forget to leave comments. I love it.
3 Reviews
Failed short to its potential
matrix-803 February 2018
In this overview of Ruud Lubbers' career as state secretary (undersecretary) and prime minister, we are offered an excellent performance by Guy Clemens, who portraits the protagonist at a young age. Even their voices are very much alike. Most other historic characters, however, give any viewer who already know them a reason to cringe at the absolutely horrible acting performances.
Like in most biographies, Lubbers is often shown as the smartest and often only reasonable voice in political situations. Yet in this miniseries this is achieved more by ridiculing his counter parts rather than elevating Lubbers himself. The viewer is not granded the usual arsenal of memorable quotes and high level discussions.
Comparing this to film biographies like Gandhi (1982) or Lincoln (2011) does not put this miniseries in a good light, but perhaps that too high a bar a Dutch production. Yet I cannot help but think that a little more effort from the actors and the script writer could have elevated this production to a much higher level.
Given the fact that the director has admitted he had a free hand in filling the gaps of historic knowledge with his own fantasy, one is disadvised to take details and encounters as historic facts. Nonetheless, the miniseries does seem to give an accurate general impression of Lubbers, his challenges, both professional as well as in marriage, and his notorious casanova behaviour.
Like in most biographies, Lubbers is often shown as the smartest and often only reasonable voice in political situations. Yet in this miniseries this is achieved more by ridiculing his counter parts rather than elevating Lubbers himself. The viewer is not granded the usual arsenal of memorable quotes and high level discussions.
Comparing this to film biographies like Gandhi (1982) or Lincoln (2011) does not put this miniseries in a good light, but perhaps that too high a bar a Dutch production. Yet I cannot help but think that a little more effort from the actors and the script writer could have elevated this production to a much higher level.
Given the fact that the director has admitted he had a free hand in filling the gaps of historic knowledge with his own fantasy, one is disadvised to take details and encounters as historic facts. Nonetheless, the miniseries does seem to give an accurate general impression of Lubbers, his challenges, both professional as well as in marriage, and his notorious casanova behaviour.
Bad boy Ruud.
punishmentpark11 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
The story of Catholic Dutch prime minister ('82 - '94) / bad boy Ruud Lubbers... the one who was accused of sexual harassment in his (later) position as highest UN commissioner - to give an idea. He left, but always claimed he was falsely accused. The picture that's drawn out here (and the facts surrounding the case) do not speak in his advantage at all, especially how he tried to influence the investigation thereafter. In this miniseries he is even portrayed flirting with Beatrix, the former queen of the Netherlands, which seems rather silly. The finale, in which he jokingly goes after his granddaughter (after she confronts him with the UN allegations) is downright stupefying; I don't know whát they were thinking. And then they left out a lot shady facts about his 'entrepeneurship'.
The writers of the series took a lot of liberties in composing the story. They zoom in on his personal life a lot, but it may well be exaggerated plenty. All events in the past are told through the perspective of a (more) recent interview with / 'performance' by Lubbers, for which a number of students had to pay good money to listen to him talk over and around any serious question, patronizing and offending anyone in his way, including the interviewer. A big problem is that is hard to make out what is true and what is not - beyond the known facts of his political career. If you don't mind such a treatment, this may well be a somewhat intriguing, entertaining and relatively informative story, even if sometimes there is some sort of absurd sense of humour going on.
But then there is a bigger problem: Huub Stapel in the role of the older Ruud Lubbers. He hardly looks like the man, but even then, he did a pretty poor job of it. I think I've only seen one role by him that was well worth watching, playing the lady killer / bum Johnnie in 'Flodder'. I didn't mind him too much in 'Amsterdamned' either, but that's about it. One of the most overrated actors we have here, in my humble opinion. Guy Clemens did a good job as the younger Lubbers, though. A lot of smaller roles ranged from pretty good (daughter, wife) to pretty awful ('Beatrix', 'Thatcher', 'Brinkman').
All in all, and, since the 'present day' sequences are rather important within the whole, this is just not very good. The soundtrack (lots of '80s fun and cool '80s songs) and the altogether look of things weren't half bad, though, so let's make it 4 out of 10.
The writers of the series took a lot of liberties in composing the story. They zoom in on his personal life a lot, but it may well be exaggerated plenty. All events in the past are told through the perspective of a (more) recent interview with / 'performance' by Lubbers, for which a number of students had to pay good money to listen to him talk over and around any serious question, patronizing and offending anyone in his way, including the interviewer. A big problem is that is hard to make out what is true and what is not - beyond the known facts of his political career. If you don't mind such a treatment, this may well be a somewhat intriguing, entertaining and relatively informative story, even if sometimes there is some sort of absurd sense of humour going on.
But then there is a bigger problem: Huub Stapel in the role of the older Ruud Lubbers. He hardly looks like the man, but even then, he did a pretty poor job of it. I think I've only seen one role by him that was well worth watching, playing the lady killer / bum Johnnie in 'Flodder'. I didn't mind him too much in 'Amsterdamned' either, but that's about it. One of the most overrated actors we have here, in my humble opinion. Guy Clemens did a good job as the younger Lubbers, though. A lot of smaller roles ranged from pretty good (daughter, wife) to pretty awful ('Beatrix', 'Thatcher', 'Brinkman').
All in all, and, since the 'present day' sequences are rather important within the whole, this is just not very good. The soundtrack (lots of '80s fun and cool '80s songs) and the altogether look of things weren't half bad, though, so let's make it 4 out of 10.
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