Jezus is een Palestijn (1999)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Lodewijk Crijns

Writer:

Lodewijk Crijns (writer)

Release Date:

25 March 1999 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Comedy

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Hans Teeuwen	...	Ramses
Kim van Kooten	...	Natasja
Dijn Blom	...	Lonneke
Peer Mascini	...	Vader
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Najib Amhali	...	Rashid
Pieter Bouwman	...	Communeleider
Anis de Jong	...	Goeroe
Tygo Gernandt	...	Steven
Micha Hulshof
Orlando MacBean	...	Abraham
Sandra Mattie	...	Girl making out in room
Ferri Somogyi	...	Bob
Waldemar Torenstra	...	Roy
Ruben van der Meer	...	Osiris

Also Known As:

Jesus Is a Palestinian (International: English title)

Runtime:

110 min | Germany:92 min

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

Dutch

Color:

Color

Certification:

Germany:16 (nf)

Company:

Lagestee Film BV

Trivia:

The landing spot for Jezus is supposed to be De Bijlmer, a slum of Amsterdam. In 1992 a Boeing jet operated by El Al airlines crashed down on De Bijlmer, just after takeoff, taking out a large chunk of a highrise and killing a hundred people.

Strange but engrossing!

Where do you start reviewing a film such as this? At the outset it can be said to be very different. But it's such an improbable and unpredictable mixture of gurus, initiations,drugs,body piercings, euthanasia, doctors, religious publications, charlatans and sex! Only the most imaginative writer could conceive such a script! It's a satire of course and the scriptwriter is pointing an accusing finger at the goings-on in this questionable world in which we live. Strangely enough, I find it positively entertaining apart from a couple of excruciatingly painful scenes (I am sure all males will agree!) Hans Teeuwen plays the main role of Alfred, a naive Palestinian guy who ends up as a member of a strange sect. Naming him Ramses, the members garbed in biblical robes and bodies liberally pierced with metal rings, begin to prepare Ramses for an experimental sharing of a drug absorbed into the marrow of the shinbone. They are an unruly-looking lot and the worst of them all is the chief guru, Kahn Guru, commonly referred to as Kangaroo, a man of awful demeanor and sadistic power. The question of euthanasia comes up when Alfred and his sister visit their dying father in an Amsterdam hospital, Alfred refuses to sign any papers until his father concurs, Unfortunately father is in a coma and cannot speak until Alfred anoints him with an unproven remedy, provided by a guru who foretells the coming of a new Palestinian Messiah, Father, on hearing this, insists that he be kept alive so that his sins may be forgiven. The scriptwriter pulls out all stops for the concluding scenes when huge neon crosses are erected on the top of a tall building and bed-ridden father is hoisted up to be present when the new Messiah appears. It's ridiculous to an extreme but keeps one guessing at what can possibly happen next e.g. the appearance of a glow in the sky rapidly advancing towards the assembled believers creates interest and a feeling of anticipation...... After watching the film a couple of times, these often quoted words come to mind: "All the world's queer except thee and me, and even thee's a little queer".