Bluebird (2004) (TV)

Director:

Mijke de Jong

Writer:

Helena van der Meulen (written by)

Release Date:

10 April 2004 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Plot:

Merel, a talented young girl, is suddenly getting bullied at school.

Plot Keywords:

School | Bullying | Springboard | Class | Train

Awards:

3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Elske Rotteveel	...	Merel de Leeuw
Kees Scholten	...	Kasper de Leeuw
Elsie de Brauw	...	Mrs. De Leeuw
Jaap Spijkers	...	Mr. De Leeuw
Bright O'Richards	...	Charles
Bente de Vries	...	Julie
Floris Heyne	...	Peer
Carmen Otten	...	Kim
Sharai Voet	...	Cindy
Samir Veen	...	Martijn
Ramon Lieshout	...	Freek
Bodine van Zalk	...	Blond meisje 1
Avalon Verbunt	...	Blond meisje 2
Florentijn van Meeuwen	...	Laila
Eline Hoorn	...	Cecilia

Runtime:

Netherlands:77 min

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

Dutch | English | French

Color:

Color

Certification:

Netherlands:MG6

Filming Locations:

Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Egmond Film & Television

Movie Connections:

Features "Baantjer: De Cock en de moord op het wrede lot (#9.2)" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Bluebird

drama with strong lead

The last two Dutch films I saw had lead characters that did not make you root for them ('Drijfzand' and 'De Ordening'). That is OK if the movie has other things going for it; sometimes a hero would just be in the way. Unfortunately, those two Dutch flicks had no such other things going for them either.

Blue Bird is different, partly because its makers cheated.

The lead character is Merel, a girl of 12 who has started attending secondary school. For some reason or another (who knows why these things really start?) she gets off on the wrong foot with the rowdy crowd of her class, and from then on she is being bullied and beaten up by that group.

Merel has some average qualities, for example in that the she is slightly nerdy. But most of the time she is being the ideal person: she can sing, she is a swimming champ, she is a very caring and devoted sister to her charming and handicapped little brother and she is one of the best students in her class. This makes it very easy to care for her: you want her to overcome the bullies, and grow in the process.

And this is where the makers cheated: her being so perfect also makes it difficult to imagine her the target of bullies. Bullies usually pick on the weaker kids. Although Merel does defend herself, she seems to have no friends for most of the movie, except in people that are not in her school.

Director Mijke de Jong uses another trick to make us feel for Merel. The camera is often distant, hidden behind backs or staying away from the action, so that it feels that not even the registering eye will step in to help this poor girl.

Elske Rotteveel as Merel believably portrays the lead character in both sad and happy times, and holds her own in both speaking and silent moments. She outperforms her grown-up colleagues in many scenes, making her Merel stand out even more.

All in all this is an engaging TV film.