The Gang of Oss

This movie gives an excellent idea of how life in a criminal gang was - in a small city in the Dutch outback (Oss, North-Brabant) in the 1930's. How the gang, with the help of the Roman Church and factory-owners, could flourish in a mental climate of hatred against the national government and it's military police ('marechaussee'). 'We from Oss', catholic southerners, speaking a different dialect against 'Them' - the Dutch occupiers, mostly protestants who speak 'high' dutch and who use the marechaussee to keep the Oss'ians down under.

It's an honest film which tries to follow history more or less precise. By placing one member of the gang in the middle of the story (a woman, bar-owner and prostitute) it personalizes this history. The way she is portrayed in her attempt to get rid of the gang life and flee with one of her lovers is convincing and phenomenal! In the beginning she is only shrewd" an opportunist, only out for the money and for her own survival. But later on we see that she does care and she does have a morale, a conscience. It;s not black and white. And therefore - and for the fine actors, good dialogs and historical props - it's an excellent film in my opinion.

"The gang of Oss" is a Dutch gangstermovie, a very rare genre. It is based, for the greatest part, on the real gang of Oss. Lead character Johanna van Heesch (Sylvia Hoeks) is based on Janske van Uden.

Johanna resembles Marie in Chabrols "Une affaire de femmes" (1988). She has to survive in a tough environment and wants to start a new and cleaner live. In order to realise this all means (including some violent ones) are justified and she don't hesitate to manipulate two men who she knows are in love with her.

Sylvia Hoeks convinces as the bar owner who's husband is in jail and who serves hier clients not only liquor but also paid love. In the first half of the movie (too) much emphasis is laid on the last mentioned extra income. One can see this as sensationalism. On the other hand it explains the reason why some men are so fond of her that they are susceptible for the manipulation that plays an important role in the second half of the movie.

Fortunately the film stays away from false Robin Hood like romanticism. There is no social goal behind the crimes of the gang, but only self-enrichment. You can also taste a touch of cynicism when the investigation against the gang is put on hold when too many dignitaries appear to have ties with the gang.

The city of Oss is in the South of the Netherlands. This part of the country is mainly Roman Catholic. The North of the Netherlands is largely Protestant. The locals treated the military police from the North, investigating the gang of Oss, as some sort of occupying force and remained silent. It resembles a sort of "omerta". If the source of this "omerta" is fear for retallation, I can understand. If the source is hositilty towards the Protestants from the North (as the movie suggests), I find it hard to believe. After all the members, and especially the more senior members, of the gang had (as remarked earlier) no social purposes in mind and didn't hesitate to sacrifice some of the locals if this was in their interest.

When I first read about this movie I was pleasantly surprised. Making a movie about Oss in the Netherlands depicting the problems (crime, poverty) in the 1930's. I read a lot about what happened in that period. Moreover my grandfather was a member of the Marechaussee in Oss in those days. He was – to say the least – responsible for the arrest of a lot of those criminals in that period. That's why I have to say, that this movie doesn't give an accurate picture of the situation in that period. Not at all to be honest. There are a couple of persons (whose names are different in the movie of course) who really existed in those days and have committed the crimes that you can see in the movie. But apart from that the movie isn't historically correct. Well, that doesn't have to be a problem of course, since most of the viewers know nothing of what happened during those days in and around Oss. So it doesn't bother me really. What does bother me really very much is the fact that in the end of the movie people can read on the screen that many of the Marechaussee members joined the NSB (a pro Nazi movement in Holland in those days). That is absolutely not true. There may have been a few, but most of them joined the underground resistance, who helped American and British pilots to escape from the Germans). In my opinion the movie makers should have been more careful in making such a statement. Apart from that it is not a bad movie. The settings are OK as well as the clothing, the speech (dialect the people speak). The movie depicts the atmosphere of life in those days in a Dutch small city. All in all a nice movie to watch on a rainy afternoon. But keep in mind that the link to the real situation in those days isn't really present in the movie (well maybe for about 5%).

Oss is a city with a violent past, a city which has seen numerous changes both on industrial, criminal and civilized levels. These changes were seen all over the Netherlands, but for that period of time no example was so striking or extreme like it was in Oss.

André van Duren is a case of good Dutch film-maker which has lots of quality and not too much work. He has proved his skill with historical portraits in the past and De Bende van Oss is one of the few successful attempt to portray the region of Oss in that period. Cleverly shot in Ravenstein, Herpen, Keent and Oss itself, with the exception of some studio work, all feels quite authentic.

The cast is mostly put together from Brabanders (the province in which Oss lies) and this works well enough. Of course, they cannot speak with the right dialect for the film should be understood all over the Netherlands, but that doesn't bother much. The acting balanced between realistic and over the top.

This is the case with the entire film. It's brought with realism but there are many grotesque elements present. Somehow the film manages to find a delicate balance between those two. The soundtrack by Paleis van Boem works nice and gives it a special touch.

There are some problems with the film, like the gangleader is the least scary and convincing of the entire gang and he is more clown than Capone at times (not in a good way) but the rest of the cast carries him well enough so you won't really be bothered by it.

This film did cost about 3,5 mil euros which is a large budget for the Netherlands. If you think they transformed and built a convincing world with that money on par with 50+ mil Hollywood productions I can't help to wonder how we in our humble country manage to do it sometimes.

A good film, sometimes a little unsolid and at times plain great with many human touches, this is a film of which the Dutch people can be proud and will largely entertain themselves with.

Dutch movie makers are the worst in the world. Only bollywood movies sucks more. So it surprised me that this movie was pretty good. Also I live nearby Oss, and it's true, they all have knifes. Maybe they think the Germans will give it a third chance and they wanna be prepared. You never know.