Manslaughter (2012)
"Doodslag" (original title)

Max's ambulance is being held up by a small gang whose friend has a minor injury. Max, on his way to a woman who is giving birth with complications, hits a boy trying to unblock the road. ... See full summary »

Director:

Pieter Kuijpers

Writer:

Marcel Lenssen

Stars:

Theo Maassen, Gijs Scholten van Aschat, Maryam Hassouni

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Theo Maassen	...	Max
Gijs Scholten van Aschat	...	Felix
Maryam Hassouni	...	Amira
Najib Amhali	...	Vader Mo
Janni Goslinga	...	Bettie
Casper van Ouwerkerk	...	Abel
Eric van Sauers	...	Taxichauffeur
Matthijs van Nieuwkerk	...	Matthijs van Nieuwkerk
Arie Boomsma	...	Arie Boomsma
Martijn Koning	...	MC
Stefan de Walle	...	Jos
Ad van Kempen	...	Ger Hendriksen
Marjon Brandsma	...	Ellie Hendriksen
Micha Hulshof	...	Boris
Mamoun Elyounoussi	...	Achmed

Storyline

Max's ambulance is being held up by a small gang whose friend has a minor injury. Max, on his way to a woman who is giving birth with complications, hits a boy trying to unblock the road. The boy dies in the hospital while in the next room the baby and mother survive. Is max a hero or a murderer?

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Plot Keywords:

ambulance | threats | ethnic hatred | ambush | stab wound | 

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Genres:

Thriller

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Details

Official Sites:

Independent Films [Netherlands]

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

Dutch

Release Date:

12 January 2012 (Netherlands)

Also Known As:

Manslaughter

Filming Locations:

Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pupkin Film, Human Film NL, CoBo Fonds

Technical Specs

Runtime:

81 min

Color:

Black and White (chapter 2) Color Black and White

User Reviews

Unfortunately does not reflect reality.

Regardless the mediocre acting and cinematography, my prime concern about this movie is the way it portrays the current happenings in the Dutch society, in the hopes of inciting more debate about topics that are already heavily discussed.

I cringed at the scene where Max (an ambulance driver), under pressure of feeling to have to act out against the (unfortunately all too customary) hindrance of and violence against public service personnel, lashed out against a bystander who tried to calm his friend and Max down during a verbal quarrel that resulted because of a group of youth purposely obstructing the ambulance from reaching a woman in labour. This is ridiculous and a perfect example of how politically laden this movie is. There is one particular group of people, with a certain ethnicity that is particularly notorious for the aforementioned obstructive behaviour with regards to public services (and has come under fire for this) and what this film is trying to make clear here is that we should refrain from thinking in black and white (which I agree with), but this entire situation does not reflect reality, at all.

There can be no debate about this: Max deserves to be trialled for manslaughter – he used violence, regardless his motives, against someone who was actually trying to calm things down. This is however, completely unrealistic! I know this from experience and from people who have had jobs at public services. It would've been different, if the people who obstructed the ambulance had attacked Max first, and then Max would have been on trial for manslaughter (and sentenced, which unfortunately happens a lot, as well), which would have made more sense, would have actually reflected reality and relates directly to the debate about how and to what extent people should be able to defend themselves.

This film screams: "you Dutch people are xenophobic and racist and should stop judging people from certain ethnicities". Another horrible example of this is the remark of one of the bystanders, in another instance during which the ambulance personnel is hindered, at Max' co- driver (who happens to be Muslim, but is as Dutch as can be) that "Mecca is that way.". I am ashamed of this atrocity of leftist propaganda that sketches a twisted image of what is happening in the poorer, urban parts of our country (namely the continuous harassment of citizens by people of a certain ethnicity and their continuous perpetration of criminal offenses) for the people who live their lives happily in their ivory towers of the middle and upper class.

In Dutch: deze film slaat de plank volledig mis.