06/05 (2004)

Director:

Theo van Gogh

Writers:

Theo van Gogh (dialogue)
Tomas Ross (dialogue & scenario)

Release Date:

23 February 2005 (Belgium)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A fictional version of the events that led to the assassination of the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn on May 6, 2002. The movie is based upon the book "The sixth of May" by Tomas Ross.

Plot Keywords:

Archive Footage | Beach | Cell Phone | Colleague | Daughter

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Thijs Römer	...	Jim de Booy
Tara Elders	...	Ayse Him
Cahit Ölmez	...	Erdogan Demir
Jack Wouterse	...	Van Dam
Johnny de Mol	...	Redacteur NRC, John
Caro Lenssen	...	Marije de Booy
Marcel Hensema	...	Wester
Gijs Naber	...	Wouter Heemskerk
Marlies Heuer	...	Thera
Georgina Verbaan	...	Birgit Maas
Ariane Schluter	...	Ex Jim
Tooske Breugem	...	Grondstewardess
Peer Mascini	...	Buurman
Marijke Veugelers	...	Buurvrouw
Reinout Bussemaker	...	Volkert van der G

Also Known As:

06/05: The Sixth of May (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

Netherlands:117 min

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

Dutch | English

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

's-Gravenhage, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Column Productions

Trivia:

Marcel van Dam, a well-known Dutch TV personality, made an unsuccessful attempt to have his presence removed from the movie before the premiere. The movie uses an excerpt from a discussion program in which he calls Pim Fortuyn "an inferior human being" in his face.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The wide shot of the Media Park in Hilversum shows building cranes. At the time of the murder these weren't there and the trees next to the parking lot where Fortuyn was murdered, which are visible in news footage in the movie, were later cleared and dug out to make way for new buildings.

Movie Connections:

Remade as 1-900 (2009)

Soundtrack:

Broad Daylight

Entertaining dutch thriller

Well, I actually really liked it. Next to the tension this movie builds on, it has a very warm, very dutch, comforting seventies-based and natural feel to it. Despite of the actual storyline and the grim ideas behind it, I could understand where Theo was coming from when he wanted this to be made. Having lived the day when Pim Fortuyn got killed, and knowing the many unexplained details surrounding it, I think parts of the movie are terrifying in that they might very well be more true than most of us would like to believe. Just waving away the entire story as fiction somehow doesn't cut it for me. Knowing Theo Van Gogh quite well from local TV etcetera, I expected some hidden messages, telling us things beneath the surface of it all; They're not getting through to every viewer, but they're all over the place.

Theo shot this movie using the very fast 3-camera technique, giving it a documentary-like speed, which fits the writing. Some of the action scenes could have been done better (with a bigger budget perhaps), but aside from a few lesser moments (which didn't really bother me) the movie had me hooked, and the only thing I didn't like was that it ended. You know good guys can't always win, but you really want them to this time around. Even today, you'd like Pim and Theo to just re-appear on-screen like nothing had happened in our 'innocent' little country. It's hard to view the film not knowing the sickening story behind his killing, and it's even harder to notice how wrongfully he and Pim have been accused of being racist and right-wing extremists (or similar accusations). If anything, this movie is telling it like it is, and shows us how the exact opposite was true for both Pim and Theo.

The movie would have looked quite promising for Van Gogh, and still does for most of the actors in it. Theo was clearly getting better by the year, so it truly saddens me to see what could have been if he would still be alive. It's all been so silly, so stupid, so useless, and when you see this movie you want to snap out of reality, but you know you can't, because it is all so real...