Bella Bettien (2002)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Hans Pos

Writers:

Frank Bovenkerk (novel)
Hans Pos (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

The gripping true story of a Dutch girl who made an amazing career in the international narcotics world.

Plot Keywords:

Police Raid | Corruption | Car Accident | Adultery | Cocaine

Cast

Thekla Reuten	...	Bettien
Kim van Kooten	...	Monique
Daniël Boissevain	...	Beto (as Daniel Boissevain)
Dimme Treurniet	...	Frits
Petra Laseur	...	Moeder
Fedja van Huêt	...	Paul (as Fedja van Huet)
Robert Reina	...	Alberto Morientes
Thom Hoffman	...	Frans van Rijn
Edwin Jonker	...	John
Bouke Jagt	...	Bob
Koen De Bouw	...	Velibor
Dragan Bakema	...	Slobodan
Vincent Riotta	...	Rico Morales
Kevork Malikyan	...	Demetrio Altafini
Manuel Santos	...	Bodyguard Altafini

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

Netherlands

Language:

English | Dutch | Spanish | Italian

Color:

Color

Certification:

Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Shooting Star Filmcompany BV

Quotes:

Alberto Morientes: There's always a boss...

Awful

This (TV) film was made in a series of Dutch TV films. I wonder how the network producing this movie (AVRO) managed to produce something this awful when they produced a magnificent TV film in the same series (Cloaca, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375662/).

This movie suffers from some real Dutch movie diseases: massive and annoying overacting, unbelievable and contrived characters, well-known Dutch actors trying to portray foreigners (who, as a result, speak with a terrible Dutch accent, making it even less believable), and a thoroughly wooden screenplay (especially the portrayal of violence, including someone getting shot in the head without spilling an ounce of brain or blood, even managing to put a newspaper over his head after being shot - maybe they forgot to bring the stage blood?).

At a time when Dutch movies are climbing out of the amateurish pit they were in for a long time, this movie is a giant setback. The only positive side to it is that this is merely a TV film, not a major movie destined for international rotation or (God forbid) a serious film festival.

Obviously, that's a negative side-effect for Cloaca, which is real motion picture material and could use a wider audience.

Anyway, if you're unfortunate enough to run into La Bella Bettien, just gaze at Thekla Reuten's lips and eyes and forget she was ever in a movie this horrible.

I might have given this a 3, but since the movie is actually based on true events, the additional talent needed to turn a true story into an unbelievable movie means the score drops down to 2.