De dominee (2004) User Reviews

definitely worth watching

[depris · 7/10 · 21 February 2006]

Tragedy, Betrayal and Intrigue... this film has a healthy dose of all of these. Not knowing of Klaas Bruinsma I considered this movie to be very well done. After reading up on him I could see how some, with the wrong expectations, could be disappointed after seeing this. It isn't really as accurate to the life of Klaas Bruinsma as some wanted it to be. Personally I think the right amount of artistic liberty was taken to give Klaas some redeeming qualities and to make the movie interesting. If you sit down expecting a movie "inspired by" or "loosely based on" Klaas Bruinsma then you should walk away gratified. The direction was excellent, the acting was excellent and the story was for the most part good. If I had to find something to criticize this movie for it would probably be that they jumped from him being a mid level dealer to a big time boss without much transition in between. This is very minor though. Anyone who does a little bit of reading on the real guy and rethinks the movie can fill in the blanks with a little imagination.

While I wouldn't give this a masterpiece/perfect/excellent rating of 9/10 or higher (which I would give to movies like The Godfather or The Usual Suspects) I think this film was above par. Solid 7 or 7.5/10. :) I hope this Director continues making films.

Sags in too many places

[imdb-5032 · 6/10 · 17 December 2006]

Script has some flaws: dialogue is poor throughout and development is sketchy and confused. Acting is fairly solid. Frans Lammers is pretty good as Adri and Chantal Janzen delivers.

In some respects, the Bruinsma legacy seems to have intimidated rather than inspired this movie. Peter Paul Muller seems wary to actually provide substance to his character and on occasion comes across as a bit of a lifeless cast, more concerned with not getting it wrong than with getting it right.

Towards the end De Dominee picks up speed and force and works towards a predictable but suitably tragic conclusion. Sharper direction and editing might have helped bring more intensity to the beginning and the middle as well. As it is, the movie sags too often.

Nice one, although poor dialogues at times..

[daniel-mets · 7/10 · 28 July 2005]

For a dutch production, this one is pretty good. Although based on Klaas Bruinsma, the movie doesn't use all parts of the real life of Bruinsma at points, which is easily acceptable to actually spice up the movie. Only thing that had me curling my toes was the awful acting at times. Of the three main characters I'd say Frank Lammers puts on a marvelous performance, in great contrast with Chantal Janzen who I found hard to believe at times. The corny lines might not have been her fault, but those lines could have definitely been brought more realistically to actually represent an emotion like anger.. Peter Paul Muller did an OK job I guess, but it didn't really have me as excited as Frank Lammers who to me really stands out of the crowd with this performance.. Enough about acting then, the story: it's really a story with a great sense of irony in it. The man who wanted to be the biggest without losing himself in the criminal world of liquidation, but in the end he throws all morals overboard just to stay on top.. good enough for me! 7 out of 10 for a decent story, but corny dialogues at times and besides Frank Lammers' excellent performance, it really shows what a poor movie country Holland really is IMHO.

Entertaining crime saga, based on the life of Klaas Bruinsma

[Camera-Obscura · 11 November 2006]

THE PREACHER (Gerrard Verhage - Netherlands 2004).

Well crafted film about the rise and fall of Dutch drug-lord Klaas Bruinsma, based on the book by Bart Middelburg published in 1991, the year Bruinsma was assassinated before the Hilton in Amsterdam. In the '70s and '80s he was the key marijuana importer in Western Europe, and built a huge empire based on drug trafficking ("only soft drugs", he claims repeatedly), gambling and prostitution. At first he wants to stay clear from violence, but these attitudes don't last very long in the business like this, and soon he descends into an ever more violent downward spiral, until his own violent death.

For unknown legal reasons the name of the main character in the film was changed to Klaas Donkers, but it's common knowledge the filmmakers were urged by Amsterdam crime figures to change a couple of names, mainly because of still ongoing violent disputes in the aftermath of his death (which - believe it or not - are still going on to this very day). So for the film they altered the name of the main character, but it's obvious the film deals, or at least is based, on the life of Klaas Bruinsma.

And therein lies one of the weak points of this film. It doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be a screen biography or a more traditional crime saga, with the traditional blueprint of the genre. The rise of Klaas Donkers (Peter Paul Muller) into the big league happens so fast, he's in with the big boys in no time. Before you know what happened, he is negotiating with the very top bosses. Perhaps this was how it all went down, but it seemed a bit sudden to me.

Peter Paul Muller as Klaas Donkers does OK and Frank Lammers as his right hand and bodyguard shows he is one of the top actors of his generation. A very intense performance. Chantal Janzen as Annet, his girlfriend, is less convincing. She seems to have decided she is gonna be tough throughout the whole film and delivers her lines with a wooden, albeit, pretty face. And why does she work at a market stand selling second hand clothes, even when she was already involved in a multi-million guilder business as Klaas Donkers accomplice and lover? A hobby of hers, selling second-hand clothes?

Many remarks have been made about the set design. I must admit, it is a bit awkward. The film plays roughly from 1973 till 1991. With the exception of the last scene, which looks very much like 1991, the chronology is soon lost on the set designers and we see very strange mixtures of 1973 cars with late eighties clothes. In general, they could have eased up a little on the over-the-top '70s look. Throughout the entire film, they drive around in huge American cars from the early seventies and Amsterdam sometimes looks more like a Middle Eastern bazaar than a European city.

Not a very strong film by any standard with an OK but somewhat confusing script, poor dialog and some sub-par performances, but when drugs, murder and beautiful women are involved, you're easily entertained. But be patient with the first twenty minutes.

Camera Obscura --- 7/10

For a rainy Sunday afternoon

[xus · 6/10 · 30 September 2004]

The movie was okay, the kind you rent on DVD on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Bur surely not worth the 9 euro's i had to pay to see it at the cinema! Acting was average at best and pretty bad at times. It's nice to see the locations in Amsterdam. Art direction was good, as was the music. The story was a bit boring, nothing much happened really. You just follow the main character, Klaas (Bruinsma), from the start of his criminal career to his demise and violent death years later. The plot you can see coming like light years ahead, no surprises there. Although i predicted what was to happen i still don't yhink it makes any sense. I'm curious what others think about this movie... 6/10

Not so great...

[info-4332 · 6/10 · 28 March 2005]

It's a mediocre film, but I think the main problem is Peter Paul Muller is not all that convincing as a bad guy of this magnitude. I surely wasn't impressed with his performance. Also, some of the scenery makes you think the events took place in the eighties, but other scenes are like they happened in our time... there are plenty of thing that don't look like 15-20 years ago.

And how come Tygo Gernandt is ALSO in this movie? He is making way too much movies, someone should say to him that it's a Tygo overkill.

It was more hype than quality that made this movie, but still it's nice to see a new genre being tried in Dutch Cinema, and overall the acting was good.

Best Dutch movie to date, among the best gangster-movies

[vdMandele · 9/10 · 26 July 2005]

The Dominee succeeds like no other movie in creating a realistic portrait of a hardened criminal. I was blown away by the movie in the same way the Godfather blew me away. The movie is dry, wicked and intriguing. Also, excellent screenplay, especially by Frank Lammers (Adri). I'm shocked it's only rated at 7 at the moment

The story is inspired by Klaas Bruinsma, one of the biggest gangsters of all time. At his top, he traded in softdrugs with more than five different countries and was able to buy the entire Afghan harvest, worth more some $20.000.000. He was the elite of the elite in gangster-Europe, boss of a huge multi-million enterprise. Still, in the starting scene, we see him being killed on the street with no one around him to protect him (at his top, he had six bodyguards around him, almost full time). The movie is about the rise and fall of the biggest gangster Holland has ever seen. Although inspired by his life, it has to be said the movie deludes from the real history at the end (but then again, every Dutchman knows the story, so it would've been too predictable otherwise)

DAMN GOOD as long as you don't compare it with the real story about Klaas Bruinsma.

[Cruel_Man · 8/10 · 6 September 2004]

This movie is excellent for Dutch understandings, it's even DAMN GOOD as long as you don't compare it with the real story about Klaas Bruinsma.

It's a movie about Friendship, Loyalty and Treason within the crime-circuit.

The cast of this movie really gave life to the characters, witch made this movie nice to watch if you like the genre.

For all you people who like soundtracks; Intwine - Cruel Man is the maintrack for this movie. Check it Out!

I can recommend this movie if you loved "Van God Los", you'll surely love this, if not I'm sorry.

Lacks panache

[krisrox · 5/10 · 12 April 2014]

Positives: interesting take on the rise and fall of Dutch crime lord Klaas Bruinsma, with strong performances by Frank Lammers and Marcel Musters in supporting roles. High production values, nice art direction, obviously a labor of love of sorts.

Negatives: ham-fisted storytelling, clunky dialog, utter miscasting of Muller and Janzen as the leads.

Overall: I could care less that the writers invoked their artistic license to re-imagine Bruinsma's life, but they should have gone ahead and cast a lead capable of projecting larger-than-life ambition. The opening and climax are OK, but the 110-minute running time feels like 220. Muller is not a bad actor - it's just that he's completely devoid of a dark side.

pretty good acting

[XRoosX · 8/10 · 13 September 2004]

The movie is pretty good, as long as you haven't read the book or don't know the real life of Klaas Bruinsma. There are many changes in the film. Like people are being killed that weren't in the real life. The book only speaks of 9 liquidations and I don't know how many there were in the movie, but more then 9.

Overall the movie is pretty good. The acting is believable and Chantal Jansen surprised me. Though she isn't a tough bitch as his wife in the book...

Well if you haven't read the book I recommend the movie. If you've read it... don't go to see it as you will be disappointed...

Great Crime Drama

[Marko-tomazic · 9/10 · 10 September 2011]

Personally I loved the movie. When I started watching it by coincidence I did not expect much from it, but after half an hour I was so entranced by it I watched the whole thing from the beginning to the end. So when I came to check the reviews I was in for a shock. People complained about a lot of things. I do agree on some points, but others I found completely ridiculous.

First, some people said that nothing happened and that the movie was boring. Well apparently we were not watching the same movie, since you could observe the endless intrigue and machinations of Klaas. Yes, it is long winded from time to time, but then again a lot of people nowadays have the attention span of a five year old so I can understand that watching a movie with a lot of dialog and not a lot of action can be extremely hard for them. So if you are one of them I recommend you to watch Transformer movies and the like, I think those are perfect for the modern viewer.

Second, some have said that this movie theme: "The life of a drug lord" is not well developed and could be presented better. The real theme of the movie is far from this however. Trust is in the spotlight and the struggle between trusting and betraying is well presented. I really liked the scene when he jumps down from the top of the stairs as a kid and his father below lets him fall and tells him to never trust anyone. This shows why he is so hellbent on trusting people. But as he is betrayed by more and more people he realizes that his father was right, so his defeat at the end is a personal defeat against his father and not a defeat towards the world.

Other than that I more or less agree with other reviewers. People should take into consideration that film in Europe developed into one of the arts, while in America the film developed into an industry. Whole there is nothing wrong with that, this still affect the movies and their structure, so I think that people should be more understanding towards European cinematography.

Awful attempt in making a true dutch gangster movie

[chrichtonsworld · 3/10 · 11 July 2007]

"De Dominee" is based on the life of a real dutch gangster,Klaas Bruinsma! In the movie he is called Klaas Donkers! I have my doubts that events presented in the movie have something to do with what really happened! But that doesn't really matter! Because it failed to grab my attention! This movie bored the crap out of me! It lacks substance and style! The substance part could have been forgiven if the acting was any good and if the director tried to do something original! Without the substance you at least have to bring some style or decent action! Don't we need to be entertained? It would have helped if the director had seen more gangster movies! It is obvious that he didn't! Otherwise he wouldn't have made this the way he did! This movie got a lot of publicity because of a little scandal surrounding Klaas Bruinsma and a member of the Dutch Royal family! This scandal has nothing to do with the movie what so ever! Without it "De Dominee" never would have been successful! I am sure of it!

One of the worst Dutch action movies

[paultjiam · 1/10 · 16 August 2005]

After some quite OK Dutch action flicks, like Lek and Van God Los, Gerrard Verhage wants to make a movie about the life of a Dutch mobster. Well, mobster is a big word for Klaas Bruinsma. He isn't a real international big guy like George Jung (Blow) or Pablo Escobar. He is just an Amsterdam lowlife who made some money by selling soft-drugs. Things are often blown up in the Netherlands, and this movie is just an other example. But even then, the movie could be very nice if the story was okay told. Now there are major jumps in time: one day KLaas is just an ordinary drug-boy, the next shot he seems to be a big player in the drug-scene. Nobody knows how's that possible (except for those who read the book). The acting is really bad, the non-Dutch movie-watchers get to see one of the worst actresses in the Netherlands: Chantal Janzen. When you think she finally gets naked, then you are watching a stand in model. So: bad acting + bad montage + crap story = De Dominee.

Please don't watch it, even if other people say it's good, because it isn't. I've warned you.

Predictable storyline and bad acting by most of the cast..

[crazykc1980 · 4/10 · 17 April 2006]

To begin with, I have to admit I've never been a big fan of the Dutch movie-genre. Unfortunately watching De Dominee hasn't made me change my mind. It shares some common flaws, like having a plot that's too predictable and linear for my taste.

Worse however is that the cast has their dialogues as if they were stage-actors in a play. Unfortunately this is common too in many Dutch movies and, at least to me, makes it impossible to feel any kind of involvement with the main characters.

The actor that plays Adri (I'm sorry, I forgot his name at the moment) is at least delivering a decent performance, and is one of the reasons I don't rate this movie even worse.Another reason is the fact that at least it seems to have had some budget, and the production seems professional.

Ironically the fact that the acting is often too articulated might not be so much of a problem if you don't speak Dutch,although I already warned you that the plot isn't spectacular either, but at least it might make it an acceptable movie to watch.

Fire and forget

[vince1970 · 1/10 · 29 October 2004]

The brands in this film, like Suit Supply, take away from the story, cause it's supposed to be set in the eighties. It's not a very thrilling film. Also, the single from Intwine on the soundtrack is very bad, it has a chorus that is repeated numerous times', like "I'm a cruel man, I take it all away, I'm a cruel man I'm here to stay.." Jeeez couldn't those asswipes have come up with something better than that? I guess they wrote it in a couple of minutes..

It's really annoying, just like the product placement in this filmproduct,that cashes in on the controversy and publicity around a criminal who should not be a celebrity like he is now made out to be, but should be forgotten like rats ought to be.