De val van Aantjes (2013– ) User Reviews

Sacred cows make the best hamburger

[eabakkum · 6/10 · 22 June 2015]

De val van Aantjes is a dramatized Dutch television documentary about a political scandal and about the fall of the popular Christian politician Wim Aantjes. The merit of this drama is in the narration. In 1977 a large popular party of Christian-democrats was formed, called CDA. At the end of that year the party CDA participated in the formation of a center-right government, and Aantjes was elected as its fraction leader in the national parliament. The narrative begins with the description of this important event. In his new position Aantjes became one of the mightiest persons in the political system. The party CDA had a large left-wing minority, and Aantjes was forced to appease them with concessions. At the time many people were convinced that he sympathized too much with this faction. Then in 1978 it was discovered, that during the second world war Aantjes had been a member of the national sozialistische Schutzstaffel (SS), albeit not the notorious Waffen SS, but a separate Dutch division. Joke to enliven this text: how does a German eat mussels? Knock, knock, aufmachen! And what was just as bad, during his political career he had never told anyone. Many people concluded that he was a hypocrite, since he often cited from the Bible and had pretended to be an orthodox believer. Perhaps this was only because of the holidays? Another cheerful joke: a vicar asks a man: "Why do you visit the church? Is it because of my sermons?"Reply: "No, my wife's". In this situation his political position became untenable, and he had to abandon deceit in parliament. He remained an earnest Christian, but was put on the sects offenders list (joke). Many people wondered why the collaboration of Aantjes with the SS had not been discovered sooner, because he had been active in politics for years. The drama in the television documentary elaborates on a plot theory, that makes NATO responsible for the disclosure of the facts. This theory sounds spectacular, but she is not very convincing. In reality mighty politicians are always the subject of investigations. Sacred cows make the best hamburger. Moral: when I have built up a reputation, it falsify lie. It is ruined for reverend ever. Aantjes is just another Nixon or Clinton. Personally I can not recommend De val van Aantjes. However, if you like this genre, don't let my preaching scare you. In that case you may also like the Dutch film De mannetjesmaker. Warning: subtitles are lacking, but you may understand without. Don't hesitate to leave a comment. I love it.

Why?

[punishmentpark · 3/10 · 14 December 2013]

What was the point of telling this story in such a boring, soap opera kind of way, while leaving out so many important facts about Aantjes' story and the way the case worked out (or, didn't)? The story hardly gets started until we reach the third and final episode... The actors hardly resemble the actual persons involved (especially lead actor Ronald Top), which could be forgiven if they had played them with any conviction. The only positive thing there is that Ruud Lubbers' accent is eerily well imitated. The look of the seventies is hardly convincing in an overdone way, which is detrimental to the film's atmosphere.

The whole feels like a desperate and poor attempt to rehabilitate Willem Aantjes; mission not accomplished in this miniseries. 3 out of 10.