Het Schnitzelparadijs
June 13, 2006 at 9:59 AM
by Ashleigh
So I passed a new barrier in my 'life as an expat', I watched a whole movie in Dutch and didn't need subtitles (except for the Arabic parts) and found it screamingly funny. As in, 'have to get off the sofa and run for the loo' funny.
Het Schnitzelparadijs was the most refreshing movie I've watched since Danny Deckchair. I wonder if it was because its not in English? I've had difficulty reading anything recently. Mainly because everything seems the same and the same and the same. The plot, the writing, the characters. Even books that get good ratings seem to leave me cold. Same with movies. Mr & Mrs Smith was awful, King Kong was beyond awful. It's so bad that I prefer watching tv series because at least, though predictable and boring, you don't have that sense of let-down that you get with a bad movie.
But the Schnitzelparadijs... I loved the peep into Dutch culture, the puns, the jokes, the characters. This movie was like watching one of the more surreal art house films translated to standard cinema. I suppose for your average viewer overseas this would be art house theatre because of the subtitles but not for us. We watch a lot of subtitled films and some of them are downright peculiar (not porno - remember that's free on Dutch tv ;), but this one seems to hit the spot between peculiar and mainstream and does it perfectly. My favourite character was the Serbian butcher, but I liked the chef a lot too.
The IMDB has some disillusioned Dutch guy's review as the first review for this movie, but don't let that put you off. I didn't find the script to be poor, but perhaps it loses something in translation. I can really see why this movie was such a hit here. So what if the script was poor, the movie was entertaining and the characters were true to life. Which is really what matters.
So, otherwise, there's a heatwave. Unbelievably hot. 34C expected today. Fans on everywhere. Me in a skirt (too hot for trousers). Can't take the car because even though it has aircon you die for the first few minutes until it kicks in. I'm going to school at lunchtime to put sunblock on Seb. Joe is home with me watching Blue's Clues and I'm about to venture into more expat weirdness and try and make myself a pair of shorts and a blouse from a pattern which is all in Dutch. *gasp*
Tonight we start walking the Avondvierdagse. Pictures will follow.
There is no news from the hospital about Seb's EEG yet, but he has started to have a lot of coordination problems with the one side of his body again. I'm not sure if its connected or if he's just very tired from it being hot, but his arm and leg are swinging quite noticeably again when he runs (think of someone with muscular dystrophy). My friend noticed it yesterday at the pool and pointed it out - it's weird you know, when its your own kid you sometimes just don't see these things. Anyway, I'll see how it goes on our 5 km walk tonight.
Comments
Thanks for the film review -we are desperate for something different to watch! And good luck with the sewing project!
I am sorry to hear that the hospital still hasn't gotten back to you - seems an awfully long delay. I hope that Seb's coordination issues are "only" caused by heat fatigue. (And I hope it will cool off a bit!)
How long has it been that you can now understand the language without subtitles?
Neil, I've been able to understand Dutch in films/tv for about three years now, but I've always had the Dutch language subtitles (for the hard of hearing) on.
Anyway, those helped me when I got lost because people were speaking too fast, or using regional accents, or mumbling or whatever. Sometimes I wish that people on the street came with subtitles too, it would make life much easier ;)
For such a small country Holland has lots of regional dialects, and sometimes, if people switch into dialect its impossible to understand them. Conversely, my weird Dutch with its very English accent proved incomprehensible to people just 30 km away when we went to a different town for a football match for my son.
Hi Ashleigh,
I have DANNY DECKCHAIR on my Netflix queue - looks to be a good movie! Sure hope the results come in soon for you as I'm sure you are so curious. Hope Seb has a good day.
June 13, 2006 1:43 PM