Reviews

The discovery of heaven is a must see movie. The makers have achieved a full transcription of Mulisch' novel into a movie. The storylines in the book are complex and can easily be distorted but this has not happened.

With the casting of Stephen Fry as Onno they couldn't have made a better choice. In the movie, Onno has the chance to develop his rebellious and witty character. Greg Wise as Max did not have this chance (for some reason his part in the story as a brilliant scientist has been greatly underexposed) and maybe that's why his performance was not nearly as good as Onno's.

It seems that the makers have focussed on creating, in a technical sense, a perfect movie without missing anything. But, by doing so, some parts of the story have been exaggerated and some details, though crucial for the story, have been neglected. For instance the scene where Max, in a drunken mood, discovers heaven is made into a slapstick scene. A second example is the, in my opinion, weak moment where Onno finds out that Quinten is not his son. Scenes like these take time to build up in order for the magic to come out and overwhelm the viewer.

Probably this is due to the fact that the book is too complicated to tell in 2 hours. Had the makers accepted this impossibility and simplified some parts of the story, then maybe the thrill towards the end of the movie that makes the unlogic actions of Quinten in Jerusalem logic, would reappear.

Reading these comments I have to say that turning Mulish' novel into a film is very hard. The book is considered as one of the best recent dutch books. All eyes will be focussed on the movie and it's makers because nobody wants their national heritage to be spoiled. In this light my comment has to be seen.

After all, an excellent movie, unseen in this genre in Holland. I want to thank Krabbe and the filmfund for this movie.

Met grote blijdschap is a story about real human drama performed by real characters. There's been no attempt to exaggerate or to use caricatures or freaks to build up to the dramatic events at the end of the movie.

It builds up nicely from a secure home situation, the disturbing message comes by phone. The anxious trip to Belgium is filmed excellent and does not distract too much from the rest of the story. Once they've found Ad, two plots tumble over each other. One plot unfolds quite easily only to reveal the second. Outstanding performances by the actors without forgetting Dutch humor

The story was written by Lodewijk Crijns and Kim van Kooten. It makes me regret that i didn't see his first movie, Jezus is een Palestijn. It seems that nowadays it is a recommendation to have the name kim van kooten on a production.

I guess we will hear more of these people, I certainly do hope so.