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I have watched only a few Belgian movies. My main reproach towards Belgian cinema is its lack of patriotic fibre. It’s not like, for ex., the cinematographies of Poland or Hungary, which are full of great movies on the national history and important figures, thanks to filmmakers such as Andrzej Wajda. I want to see Belgian movies on Ambiorix, Clovis, the Flemish Primitives, etc., more adaptations of Belgian literature classics (why did it have to be the American Orson Welles that made an adaptation of the Belgian fantastic novel “Malpertuis”, by Jean Ray?), historical frescos on specific periods.
These are some Belgian films I like.
“Carnival in Flanders” (La kermesse héroďque), Jacques Feyder, 1935.
It is one of the important movies of the poetic realism movement and it’s very influenced by Flemish paintings. The action takes place at the time of the Spanish occupation. During the Carnival preparations in a little town, it is announced that Spanish soldiers are arriving. Everyone is afraid of plunderings. The males act like cowards, while the females show a spirit of resistance, but they are soon seduced by the Spaniards, and gladly dance with them…
“Jeanne Dielman 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles”, Chantal Akerman, 1975 :
It's a feminist film of about three hours and a half, where almost nothing happens. Actually, you watch, in real time, Jeanne Dielman peeling potatoes, knitting, doing the housework, and it’s really boring, but you realise it’s her daily life that is extremely boring and you want her to escape from it. So the movie works very well! And it’s considered to be a masterpiece.
“De man who had his hair cut short” (De man die zijn haar kort liet knippen), André Delvaux, 1966
Very strange film from the magical realism movement, about a teacher who has a strong passion for one of his students, Fran (Euphrasia). You never really know whether what you see represents the reality or a dream.
“Daens”, Stijn Coninx, 1992 :
This film is about Adolf Daens, a Flemish Catholic priest who had an important role in the fight for social justice in the XIXth century, at the time of the Industrial Revolution, which caused a rural exodus and a lot of social misery.
“Toto the Hero” (Toto le héros), Jaco Van Dormael, 1991 :
The film has a very singular staging, with a lot of flashbacks and it has a pronounced surrealist touch (Belgian trait). It’s about an old man very unhappy with his life, who is convinced that he was exchanged, as a baby, with the neighbour’s child, that it’s another life that he should have had. He also remembers his sister, with whom he had an ambiguous relationship.
“Ni juge, ni soumise”, Jean Libon & Yves Hinant, 2017 :
It’s a documentary following an eccentric and fascinating judge, Anne Gruwez, who has a rat that stays on her shoulder, who has four missing fingers on one hand because of an accident with an electric saw, who shows a lot of dark humour and who is not politically correct at all. You can see that absolutely all the delinquents and criminals she is confronted with in the film are Arabs. This movie caused a great scandal in Belgium.
“Peasant symphony” (Boerensymfonie), Henri Storck, 1944:
A very poetic documentary on Belgian peasants and their ancestral traditions, celebrations, shot during WW2. It has a pantheistic aura. What particularly stroke me in the film is how well dressed these peasants are, even when working in the fields.
From Portugal, I am ashamed I have watched only one movie. But it’s a classic one.
“Aniki Bóbó”, Manoel de Oliveira, 1942 :
It’s the first movie made by the great filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, who died not long ago, in 2015, at 106 years old. And he made movies until his death. “Aniki Bóbó” is precursor of the neorealist movement. It’s about mischievous kids from Porto that like to skip school and compete to win the hearts of the cute Terezinha.
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