Boerenpsalm (1989) User Reviews

Amusing tale

[sipreana · 7/10 · 11 July 1999]

The movie tells the life-story of Wortel (carrot or root), a young flemish farmer at the beginning of this century. Birth and death, love and lust, hardship and simple happiness, they are all ingredients. Brought to the viewer in a slightly detached yet humorous way. I quite liked it.

Professional filmed, but a bit flat

[bbriatte · 6/10 · 27 October 2006]

Flanders, end of the 19th century. Boerenpsalm tells the story of a farmer from his twenties till he is sixty. Notwithstanding a life full of misery (his first wife dies from sorrow, his second wife from drowning, his first child also dies, a daughter is blind, a son commits suicide) he sees back to his life as a good life thanks to his love of the earth. 

Based on the novel with the same name of Flemish author Felix Timmermans, the script follows too close the book. Timmermans was an author of the vitalism school (main idea is the love of life/nature) who uses a lot of symbolism in his books to express his ideas. What you not always can or have to transpose realistic to the screen. The scene where the farmer's wife at the cemetery gives birth to their second child during the burial of the first child can work in the book, but looks very ridicule on the screen. Good acting of the entire cast with an excellent Jef Burm as pastor.

FLEMISH MISERY

[Didier-Becu · 1/10 · 27 July 2003]

In case you wanna torture yourself with what probably must be the most boring (and undeliberately wanted hilarious) picture you must see Boerenpsalm! Based upon the novel from Felix Timmermans (classic Flemish novelist who can be seen as a sort Emile Zola of Flanders) we see Flanders hundred years ago, the Flemish farmer's life! This must be for decades the most beloved area for Belgian movies and "Boerenpsalm" really captures all the clichés from the genre. Nothing wrong with it so far, a movie more of less in the genre wouldn't evoke hard feelings, but it's done with such an amateur-style (even if director Roland Verhavert has directed 30 movies, none of them mean anything nontheless) which count for the directing as well the acting, and add the script as well... The most used phrase must be "Ik zien ou geerne" which is Flemish for I love you. And they love everything...the misery, the women, the land they work on, the beer they drink.... Everything is surrounded by catholicism that it makes you puke (the day the farmer Wortel buries his son, his wife gives birth to a twin...at the cemetary yes!). It really is a shame that this sort of romantism glorifies the sadness of farmers who were nothing but slaves from the bourgeoisie. Verhavert directs like a school teacher (Wortel's daughter is blind and the most genius he can do with it is the great question "Isn't it sad you can see nothing?") and all he does is interrupting scenes that could be bearable.... The whole movie constantly has the shot from Wortel (played by Ronny Waterschoot, who is daily on Flemish TV on the terrible soap "Thuis") making a sculpture from Christ...it seems the sculpture (just a wooden Christ!) took him his lifetime and yet it seems that it is all he does during his free time. More bad acting comes from Magda Lesage (all she do is laughing...even if she fell from the stairs dying), Christel Domen (Wortel's second wife who in fact is his daughter in law, apart from doing some sexy posses the girl has no use on the screen) and the laughable Jef Burm who plays the priest. It seems like all he can answer is "because God wants it...." and he must be the first priest in history who wants one of his believers (Wortel yes!) to get married for a third time just because he doesn't have to work on the field any longer. Last note for baddest acting I've seen in years goes for Karen Van Parijs, the blind daughter..."Daddy will you make Christ with open or closed eyes?" must be a genius set for director Verhavert, a normal guy just likes me just yells "Make Flemish movies we want and not this terrible s***!"