Boy Ecury (2003) User Reviews

This matter is not "just personal" (includes slight spoiler)

[pravda-5 · 7/10 · 19 April 2007]

I really enjoyed this film; in particular because I feel related to the Antillean/ Aruban people, culturally and emotionally. The only thing I did not like, was the ending. I am not going to say what it was, I just disagree with the idea that if you avenge a relative who was a traitor, this somehow becomes "personal and not political". If you are a decent person, and it is war time, and your country is occupied by the enemy, no matter what your personal feelings are, you should accept that your relative got what he deserved for being a traitor. If you don't, and if you start betraying other people to the enemy, you are becoming a traitor yourself. There is nothing personal and everything is political about that in war time. The film also makes you feel cynical in a certain way: looking at the way Antillean and Aruban people are being treated in Holland today, you can't help wondering was it actually worth to sacrifice yourself for such a country... But of course, Boy Ecury could not have known what would become of it. He simply stood up for what was right and lived up to his ideals of freedom and equality.