User Reviews

I watched this film the other day in the movie theater mainly out of interest in the theme; 8 bored teenagers passingen through summer with sex and mischief. And others I've heared of watched it mainly because of the sensation and explicit scenes, also to be found in the book this film was based on. The film sure delivers this situation, but nothing more. A general idea and direction misses a bit.

The film is divided in 4 main parts that focus each time on one of the 8 teenagers. It takes the 4 parts to fully reconstruct the thruth behind the summer of their lives. But at the end, knowing the whole story didn't gave a real feeling of satisfaction. So the film doesn't really succeed in digging deeper that the sensation it delivers.

Nevertheless the film still amuses you enough to finish it with pleasure thanks to some amuseable scenes.

The basic problem is the purpose of this film. A portrait of youth in its dark aspects ? An image of the clash between adults and young people ? A revenge ? Terribilism ? Only certitude - no answers. Only a great improvisation, without coherence, a sadistic joke and a so ambiguous end than it has no importance. An experimental movie ? Maybe not ! Only, something. Naked bodies, sex scenes, a terrible death as result of crazy joke, boredom and a trial. Manipulation and a summer. So, just somethig.

Self-serving movie without any real message to tell besides the really obvious purpose to make you cringe more and more. Acting work and setting were superb though but so much cringe without direct purpose (eg. We get it, Thomas is an aggressive psycho bully, we got it from his several acts where he tortured his 'friends' in many ways, forced them, disgraced them, even kills one of them at some point, but lets also torture an animal as an addition to emphasize how - one-sided - bully character he is). Hard to watch, not in a good way.

An explicit film that tells the same story from the perspective of different characters. The story of 8 teenagers somewhere in the countryside trying to get through two months of summer vacation. Simon starts out shy and innocent but as the film progresses the narrators get rougher and rawer and the film evolves along with it. The viewer is plagued with curiosity as more details are revealed along the way leading to the climax of a deadly prank and ensuing court case.

At the same time, the film reminds the viewer what it is like to grow up as a teenager in the society of the past and the same viewer is eerily accurately confronted with the fact that today's society is still the same.

It shows the daily struggles of teenagers hiding from their parents' sight and trying to find their own way. You are taken into the typical teenage behavior of swagger to cover up insecurities and what it's like to deal with the consequences of peer pressure. In this group resulting in the lack and blurring of norms and morals as they discover the power of their and each other's bodies and sexuality. The feeling of that power, the money it brings and the idea of being untouchable removes their boundaries and transcends violence and death.

If anyone wonders how and why young people go off the rails, watch this and you'll get the idea, although the movie won't answer the question.

The story shows in a subtle way how 7 friends were involved in a murder and trial of their 8th friend. In the last 30 minutes we know the truth: one psychopath/sociopath teenager manipulated his 7 friends to turn them into thieves, extortionists, etc. And then, he killed the 8th friend "by mistake". So he devised a way to blame the best client of his wealthy family. And he get away with it.

To begin with, this is one of those movies that feels like unforgettable experience. 'Bijzonder' movie, as a Dutch would say. Yes, it is not for everyone. There are a lot of porn scenes and the overall topic is quite unsettling. However, if you can handle this, you are left with a long-lasting inner discussion about the mind of a young person.

It is often talked about the cruelty of youth. Many think that bad upbringing, education may be the cause, others talk about brutal video games, TV shows and films. This story, however, proposes a whole new suggestion. Perhaps it is not really a cruelty? Maybe this destructable behaviour might arise from the emptiness inside of a soul, maybe the person doesn't even understand that his actions may have detrimental consequences?

There were a few scenes in 'Wij' which were strongly connected to this statement of mine. For instance, the one with the dog. The girls were shouting that it is wrong to leave a dog on the railway, that it is cruel and unhuman, however, when the guys started going away, the girls simply shrugged and followed. They knew the idea of cruelty, but... just... you know. That feeling. When you say 'however'. It is not your life, right?

Another example could be the moment on the bridge. When the simple joke truned into a massive catastrophe with a few fatalities. But in the minds of youth that caused all of this it became nothing more than a headline. 'We are on the front page'. Just like this. And all of those broken families and holidays exist only as a narrative, not as a part of the real world. Even the last minutes, when two of those 8 teenagers were reminiscencing their lucky escape from their deep trouble, spoke quite a lot. The teenagers understood that they were doing something really wrong, but saving their asses seemed more important thant their morality, thus they preferred destroying the life and family of (not so pure, but not so damned) the local politician. And after a couple of months they talked about this as something distant and unimportant.

Before summarising, I would also like to point out the beautiful atmosphere. The soundtrack kept the tense just perfectly, and the colours of Dutch-Belgian summer were immersive and realistic. It felt so good - as a comeback to The Netherlands. I admire that the cinematography managed to be so idyllic without becoming naive and 'kitsch'.

And now let's come to the conclusion. This movie is heavy. If you have weak nerves and you tolerate only traditional movies, do not choose this one. Because the IMDb rating, in my opinion, is already too low, and the poor ratings by the viewers who did not really understood the deepnes of this film will not do any good. On the other hand, you can experience something untraditional, moving and long-lasting. It is a real gem, a penny for your thoughts. Enjoy.