Character (1997)

You will enjoy this movie if you really into drama. One might confuse of why this movie categorize as mystery at first from reading the plot of Karakter. The plot has said it all, young lawyer, mute mother, ruthless father, both tormenting the protagonist all his life, but the young lawyer turn out to be successful.This is one of the best drama that based on ordinary circumstances, but the way it presented makes it an interesting story. The truth is I have known what was happening in the film, because coincidently it's similar to my personal situation. Nevertheless, the movie still captivated me until the end.Now where is the mystery in this film? You will know later that the mystery is the two characters. His father and his mother. They both will makes the film interesting until it finish. This is the type of mystery, where you know who are the mystery, but the mystery itself is inside them. Thus, this is why the film is an excellent drama.If you to watch movie that both entertaining and have impact to your real life, then this is for you. This is a movie that can relate to your life. It will bring out only the positive of you.

Karakter is one of those films that if you don't understand it, you will never learn to appreciate it. Essentially, it is about Jacob Katadreuffe (Fedja van Huet) who was forsaken by his formidable father Dreverhaven (Jan Decleir) when he was only a baby and used his own talents and hard work to attain a higher station in life. But it is about much more than that. It is about real human beings who struggle with themselves and with each other in order to make sense out of their own lives and to find their place in dynamic, puritan universe that is Holland.Dreverhaven hates his son Jacob, because the latter reminds him of the one great sin he committed in his life -- namely, having an affair with a woman who was not his wife. This may seem surprising, because Dreverhaven had a fearsome reputation for physically throwing out tenants who could not pay their rent and taking to court those who defaulted on his loans. Yet, Dreverhaven lived in a puritanical world where making wealth by hard work, discipline and sheer ruthlessness was considered a virtue, while having children out of wedlock was not. Since he succeeded in that world more than most other people, he was changed by it in a more profound way. But Dreverhaven was also capable of changing more positive ways. He develops a respect for Jacob, when his son triumphantly overcomes the challenges he puts before him. Dreverhaven's respect for his son conflicts with his hatred of him and he never seems able to reconcile the two emotional impulses.Then we have Jacob Katadreuffe who knows what grinding poverty feels like, especially when his mother (Tamar van den Dop) decides the time has come for him to move out. As it turns out, his mother was on the right track. Jacob was cleverer than his peers. He learnt the English language simply by reading books he found in his new house. Informed by a friend that the Communists were gaining new members, Jacob observed that unemployment was up as well -- he obviously knew that most people would leave the Communist party once they found jobs that paid the rent and other living expenses. After a business reversal (which taught him how businessmen cheat each other), Jacob Katadreuffer finally begins his meteoric rise to prominence only to come into conflict -- by a strange and unexpected twist of fate -- with his father Dreverhaven.Finally, we have a murder mystery. Dreverhaven was found in the basement of his wear house with a knife lodged in his stomach and his estranged son, Jacob Katadreuffe, was the last person known to have seen him.Over the course of the film, director Max van Diem brilliantly interweaves these three strands together. He is assisted by a very capable group of actors. Jan Decleir is absolutely brilliant as Dreverhaven, who is a special kind of villain, because he has depth, a soul and inspires a certain degree of sympathy. Dreverhaven is probably one of the hardest roles to play, but Jan Decleir pulls it off without a hitch. Fedja van Huet is also impressive as Jacob Katadreuffe, a man so consumed with ambition that he makes no room for any real personal life. Towards the end, one feels he may become the same man his father was. Van den Dop also gives a fine performance as the reserved and quiet mother to Jacob. Finally, Paleis van Boem's riveting score really contributes to the plot and the general atmosphere of the film. These days, it is rare to see a film about real people trying to work out their own internal and external conflicts. They do so without special effects, without explosions and for the most part without violence. This is one of the most interesting and intense films I have seen in recent times and it is tragic that Hollywood does not make more films like this one.

This was a great film and was also my first exposure to Dutch cinema. The film is sort of like a combination of David Copperfield, Les Miserables and a murder mystery! The film starts with an argument. You have no idea who the two people are and it culminates with one of them being accused by the police of killing the other. I was completely taken by surprise by the direction the movie took from there as was told in a series of flashbacks and it became like a Horatio Alger film about an ambitious but poor man working hard to succeed. One of the other main characters is an apparently sadistic and rigid man (who seems a lot like Inspector Javert from Les Miserables). Throughout much of the movie, he appears to be quite misunderstood by the ambitious young guy (who, it turns out is the "bad guy's" bastard son). To me, this disturbed and bitter old man was the most interesting element in the story. The young guy was driven by success and anger towards his biological father--that is clear. But the complex and odd motivations of the father are much less clear and open to debate--and THAT'S what helps make this a stand-out movie to me.NOTE for parents. This movie is rated R--mostly for some violence and a brief distant shot of a naked man. I would not have been surprised if it had been rated PG-13, as the violence was not that intense and the nudity was neither gratuitous or overly explicit. This film would probably be okay for a mature teenager to watch.

Karakter is one of the best Dutch movies i ever saw. The main reasons are the classic theme, the good script, and the superb acting.What i especially like (and obviously will appeal only to Dutch speakers) is the well-balanced use of old fashioned Dutch phrases from time to time. I think this really works here and adds value to the historic atmosphere of the movie. Based on the novel "Karakter" by Dutch novelist Ferdinand Bordewijk, the story is set in Rotterdam during the 1920s and early 1930s. The love-hate relationship between the father Dreverhaven (played by the Flemish actor Jan Decleir who gives a great performance) and the son Katadreuffe (very well acted by Fedja van Huet) works very well. Both have strong characters and their ambitions make them blind for the possibilities of love. Katadreuffe, for example, resists the love he feels for Lorna te George (played by the lovely Tamar van den Dop). Despite the numerous clashes between father and son, their mutual bond is stronger than they want to admit. This inevitably leads to a dramatic climax. I think this is one of those movies where everything just works very well together and i strongly recommend it.