Manslaughter (2012)

This could have been an interesting movie, but it failed for more than one reasons. Being a public figure is not everybody's cup of tea. Max (the leading part) feels humiliated when he sees himself in a TV-show after he has been secretly filmed at his job, working on an ambulance. A comedian, a sidekick in a popular TV-show, ridicules him publicly for his docile behavior in a confrontation with some obnoxious people. Not long after, Max is confronted again with youth who aggressively block his way on a ride to a matter of life-or-death childbirth. Is it the humiliation or the stress? It's not clear, but he beats one of the youngsters and continues his ride, saves the mother and baby, only to find out that the youngster he has hit is taken to hospital as well, and dies there. Unfortunately, this incident was also filmed in secret, and aired on the same TV-show, and commented on by the same comedian. He is sentenced for manslaughter. The dilemma, this life or that life, is shown very well, and by itself is enough to make an interesting movie. Unfortunately, the movie doesn't stop there. The tension bleeds away when the movie continues; after his release from prison he finds he lost his job and is confronted again with the group of youngsters, who seek revenge. In trying to cool down the situation, he only makes things worse. He is driven into the hands of the comedian who ridiculed him before, and gets used by him in his stage act. Finally he gets himself a gun and goes on a "nothing left to lose" spree to set things right. It ends with his suicide. As I said, the tension is only present in the first part of the movie; the rest just makes the movie weak. But there is more. First of all, the main character, Max, is supposed to be a good-natured fellow. Unfortunately, the movie makers did not choose an actor but a comedian for this role. And not just any comedian, no, it's a comedian especially known for his abusive behavior. How else would you call someone, who brags about his stealing of sport-trophy's, who is convicted for sexually attacking a female spectator on stage, who smashed the expensive equipment of a professional photographer, or who publicly compared the looks of an aging popular female singer with the aberration of necrophilia? This is the man that now has to convince us that he is a meek ambulance driver. That's an impossible task for someone who is not a professional actor, of course. But that is not all. The taxi driver that delivers him a gun, as well as the father of the boy that was killed are not trained actors but comedians as well. They both have single line performances, so they are not able to shake off that comedy-feeling on first recognition. The sidekick in the TV-show, however, supposed to be a comedian, is really an actor (thank heavens for that). When following his script as the sidekick, he plays his role better than anybody else in this movie, but when he has to play his role as a comedian on stage, he can't convince us as such, because they forgot to give him some interesting lines.Why did they make those reversals, why did they not use real actors? The acting of the comedians is not at all convincing. Strangely enough, a real find is the use of the talk show in this movie. It's actually a real and popular show which sometimes really does abuse anonymous bystanders in previously aired TV-clips, dragging them into the focal point of attention, like "...pay notice to these people in the background, see how silly they behave." Some of the sidekicks in this show are known for their controversial statements, like naming people in unfounded accusations of child molest or promotion of mob justice. I have no idea why the producers of this show ever thought it was a good thing to cooperate in this movie. All in all, the movie is only interesting in the first part, and could have been better if real actors would had been hired.

'Doodslag' (which translates to Manslaughter) tells us the story of Max, a veteran ambulance-driver who gets driven to mental breakdown. The build up of the story is quite fast, and after some minor incidents showing Max getting disrespected and even made fun of on national television by a famous comedian it eventually leads up to the unintended death of a young street thug. On their way to a emergency delivery Max (and his new colleague (Amira, portrayed by Maryam Hassouni)get stopped by a group of street youth when their friend had a accident and has superficial headinjuries. The tension builds up, and with all the stress Max has to cope with he snaps, hits one of the guys who falls on the curb and dies on the spot. Max is sent to prison for one year, but it doesn't stop there. The friends of the street thug are bound for vengeance, and start threatening and harrasing him. In the mean time the comedian that made fun of him earlier finds himself feeling sorry for his actions, and hires Max as his personal driver.I found this movie to be very intelligent and uncomprimizing. This film shows the degrading of society (emergency personell frequently get harassed in the Netherlands these days) but it does not judge whether Max is a criminal or a hero. The Maassen reprises a strong role (after his first movie: TBS) and I think no other Dutch actor can portray such a dark and gritty character. Maryam Hassouni also portrays an excellent role as Amira and I also see a bright future for her acting career as well.I also find the directing very good, I am only guessing why the 2nd chapter is in black and white. The only reason I can think of is some 'artsy' addition or something. The soundtrack is also very good, and fits the film very well.Overall I would say this is a must see, and another gem of Dutch cinematography. These don't come around very often.9/10

The word doodslag means manslaughter in Dutch, and it begins with an ambulance responding to a stab victim, and after calming him down and telling him that he will be fine, but as they drive to a hospital, he flatlines. They stop and attempt cpr, but he dies. Max blames himself for the man's death for underestimating the seriousness of the injury.He gets a new partner, Amina, a Moroccan woman, and their first call is for a bad drug reaction at a nightclub where a nasty, racist comic is performing. As they revive the girl the host insults them both, including anti Muslim remarks aimed at Amina. They leave and when watching television, see that they were being taped at the club. The next emergency is for a woman with a difficult childbirth. On route, the two are stopped by Moroccan youth, demanding that they help one of their friends with a head injury. Amina bandages it and tells them that the kid will be fine, but they insist that he be taken to the hospital. Max explains the need to leave quickly for the pregnant woman's emergency. As they argue and one of the boys yells at them, Max punches him in the face, he hits his head on the curb and dies. Max and Amina manage to save the mother and baby but the police arrive and arrest Max. He serves one year in jail for manslaughter and can't get a job when he is released from prison. The vicious comedian who insulted him earlier in the nightclub hires him as a driver and has him join the act onstage, where he manipulates the crowd, depending on Max's responses to questions about the night of the trouble. Max apologizes to the family of the boy he killed, but the harassment continues, including Max's girlfriends house being burned down. He is assaulted and responds by getting a gun for intimidation. He confronts the comic he drives around and the movie just fizzles out at the end. The story and editing are haphazard, with very poor structure, so at best it is a 5/10.

It's hard to write a review about such a relevant movie. "Why?" is the question that will enter your mind probably. Well, when you write a review about a relevant movie with themes so important in this time, you want to make sure you don't criticize the theme's but the movie.Theo Maassen, whom is most of all one of the best comedian's the Lower lands has, plays this movie with finesse and touching realness. This is a hard movie. Not only does it depict reality very accurately. this reality is a reality without solutions, it's a reality with hard decisions, choices and dilemmas. Theo Maassen fits perfectly in this harsh dark world. No one else, and i really mean no one else could 've played this role better. no American, no Johnny Depp, No Elijah Wood, no dutch, nor American actor which i know. Now, you might have detected i'm a big fan of Theo Maassen. True. it might not be objective at all. But his acting is so fine, so detailed and filled with doubt I don't believe any other actor could do this. Mainly because Maassen plays this like a person, like a really human being, overwhelmed with reality. Besides the wonderful acting of Maassen, also Gijs van Scholten Aschat plays his role as a comedian (a role which Theo plays in real life) to the point. Almost like it's real. It's a Dutch movie, you can see that. Now don't get me wrong, i'm not a superb film critic, i haven't seen "all" dutch movies nor a lot non American/British but this movie really has a dutch taste. The grimness, the hard themes it depicts and the uneasiness that crawls up under your chair are astonishing. The image is raw. The acting is raw. The story is raw. The decisions made in this movie are raw. So far for style, it deserves a fat 10.Now about this themes. As we know from American movies they can really solve problems right? This movie doesn't solve. It poses questions. Now for that fact it could 've still been some art like fancy documentary. The good thing about this movie is that it doesn't just pose questions it asks questions which have no answer. These questions are a logical event of occurrences and don't ask for an "opinion" they just are. The way the characters deal with them are completely understandable but not predictable. Not at all. No spoilers. The themes are very relevant for our society. The questions are important not for people who work in hospitals or drive ambulances. On one hand it reminds us that all our media, and the ones that use it, should watch their mouth. It reminds us that saying "act normal" is easier said than done. It reminds our street kids to watch out who you bother and our "normal people" that sticky situations are easily created and hard to solve. I actually wanted to write that this is not a movie for "normal people" but that's not what this is about. This is a movie without compromising, a movie without understandable questions, without happy ending, without answers, without solutions, without a shine on reality. Definitely a European movie. Definitely not for the ones who like easygoing happy endings. Ex-Drummer is the only movie i can compare this one with. but this one has a political tone. Starting with the first shot we get: a Quote from our prime minister saying "We need to win our society back from the bad guys". Well, after the first few minutes you already understand that this is not as easy as it sounds. Who are these bad guys? Bad guys apparently all have reasons to be one. These reasons are created by situations. This is a movie showing how bad guys are created. Unintentionally.This is probably one of the best Dutch movies I've ever seen. If you cant' see it in cinemas, buy it. If you can't? Download it. it's to important to not see. Check it out!