Spetters (English translation: Splashes) is a Dutch film directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film follows the lives of three young men who have little in common but their love for dirt-bike racing. Set on the outskirts of Rotterdam, the film depicts three characters who are hoping to escape a dead-end, working-class existence.
The film was a small success in the United States, and it helped launch the Hollywood careers of Verhoeven and some of the actors, including Jeroen Krabbé, Rutger Hauer and Renee Soutendijk.[1]
Plot
Two young motocross racers, Rien and Hans, and their mechanic, Eef, dream of fame, fortune and casual sex. Their hero is legendary motocross champion Gerrit Witkamp, who inspires their competitive rides. The motocross racers want to make their marks as professional racers, but their hopes don't go according to their plans.
Each of the boys is seduced by Fientje, a young woman who, with her brother, sells French fries and kroket at the races. She is looking for the person who will help her get out of the business and away from her brother. Eventually, she makes the three men face the reality of success, defeat and homosexuality.
The film led to protests about how Verhoeven portrayed gays,[2]Christians, the police, and the press. Although Verhoeven made one more film in the Netherlands, the response to Spetters led him to leave for Hollywood. Despite the large amount of controversy surrounding it,[2] the film proved to be popular, with 1,124,162 admissions in the Netherlands alone.[3] The town of Maassluis was the setting for the movie.
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10.[4] Anton Bitel from Little White Lies wrote that "in these young men's stories, as they become caught up in a collision of older and newer values, you can also see the painful emergence of the Dutch nation from its own Calvinist, homophobic, colonialist past."[5]
Nicholas Royle of Time Out opined you should "imagine a Mike Leigh film set in Holland with motorbike stunts, packed with authentic action sequences and sexual frankness, including an eye-popping cock-measuring contest."[6] Film critic Vincent Canby commented that "Verhoeven attempts to jazz things up with a number of soft-core pornographic sequences, which make the movie look even more old-fashioned; all of the performers stand head and shoulders above the material."[7]
Critic Michael Bronski stated "for all of its outspokenness and sexual frankness Spetters is a nice movie about three boys growing up; the middle class disenchantment that we have grown used to in Hollywood films is totally absent here; except for the gay boy whose father is a religious fanatic, all the young people and their parents seem to get along fine."[8]The Stranger wrote "the film never condones the antics but condemns the sort of masculinity and conservatism fomented in Dutch culture; still, it's tough and shocking."[9]
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Lumiere Home Entertainment on 8 May 2012.[10]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
