Polleke (2003) User Reviews

Polleke is an ordinary 11 year old girl, wich makes her life and thoughts so extraordinary

[Sillysil · 10/10 · 31 December 2003]

Polleke is an ordinary 11 year old girl raised by her single mom and always defending her drug-addicted dad. She wants to be a poet and is in love with Mimoun, a Maroccan boy in her class, with Africa eyes.

Take the time to see this film and you won't regret it: It's funny, moving and full of great characters and even greater dialogue. It's a love story, a coming of age story, a feel good movie and an educational one. My favorite film this year!

a fairy tale with a lot of truth in it

[imdb-jeroen · 9/10 · 27 September 2006]

Off course this movie is for children, and yes of course everything ends up in a way that's probably a bit too good to be true.

But meanwhile this movie gives a rich view into modern dutch urban society. In that aspect it could compete with a Spike Lee movie, telling you a lot about city(suburban)-life, for once not about New-York, Chicago or San Fransisco, but simply about the Dutch 'Randstad' (the region where all the major city's are concentrated) So if you're a foreigner, and want to know a bit bout this; watch and have a good time!

Apart from all this, the story is just very entertaining, the acting is good and the movie has a nice pace. The two children that play the main characters are sometimes really amazing!

impressive acting, quiet humorous scripted

[The_Melancholic_Alcoholic · 9/10 · 9 September 2006]

This film is very well acted by all the main characters. It tells about the life of a very down to earth girl, 11-year-old Polleke. She lives with her single mother, her father is addicted, and she is in love with Mimoun, the Morrocan boy next door, with eyes so dark, they are Africa eyes. He makes her go all "weeble" (wobbly/feeble).

The dialog in this film is it's greatest asset, especially the dry-humorous, sharp comments by Polleke on the behaviour of the adults around her. For example, Pollekes father has just gone through serious drugs withdrawal, the infamous cold turkey. Father: "I feel really clean, I'm gonna be okay, so you can go to grand-mom and granddad if you want to, there are enough people who can look after me ..." Silence. Polleke: "Dad, do you wanna be a worthless jerk for the rest of your life?"

I haven't ever read any of Guus Kuijers books, but I don't remember his other film, Madelief, being this funny or having the sharp life observations. This films deals with drug addiction and ethnic tensions quite adequately without getting preachy or weepy. It's much more positive when it comes to the Romeo and Julia theme of interracial relations than Theo van Goghs _Najib and Julia_, a film which deals with a similar subject. Then again, Van Gogh was both a virulent anti-Semite ánd deeply convicted of the fact that relationships between the Dutch and Morrocans were "fundamentally doomed".