Buladó and Dutch Films at the Oscars
Monday, November 2, 2020 at 4:30PM by Nathaniel R
The Netherlands have submitted the magical realist drama Buladó for the upcoming Oscars. It's the third feature-length film from 42 year-old biracial director Eché Janga. It's a rarity for a Dutch submission in that it doesn't take place in The Netherlands but in one of the former Dutch colonies. It's set in the Caribbean Island of Curaçao (Janga's father is Curaçaoan) and is largely in the language of Papiamento rather than Dutch.
The Netherlands have an interesting Oscar history because they've won nearly half the time when nominated but the nominations are not super common. They're currently in their longest Oscar drought ever as they haven't been nominated since 2003 (despite three finalists since then)...
The Fourth Man (1983) was a big hit in American arthouses but way too filthy for Oscar voters
Generally when countries do well with the Oscars over a long period it has a lot to do with homegrown auteurs. Part of the problem with The Netherlands is that the films of their most famous living director (Paul Verhoeven) and even some of their less famous directors are too extreme for the sensibilities of Academy voters, even when they're well received by critics and other awards bodies (think Elle, Soldier of Orange, and Black Book) develop cult classic status (The Fourth Man, Showgirls, Starship Troopers) or are box office smashes in the English language (Basic Instinct, Total Recall).
Let's look at the country's Oscar history...
THE NETHERLAND'S OSCAR STATS
Submitting since 1959 (the fourth year of the competition)
53 Total Submissions
7 Nominations (and 3 Additional Finalists)
3 Wins
KEY SUBMISSIONS
Turkish Delight made Rutger Hauer an international star
- The Village on the River (1959) Nominee Director Fons Rademakers (1920-2007) was behind the first Dutch film nominated AND the first to win, nearly three decades later.
- Turkish Delight (1973) Nominee
- Soldier of Orange (1977) Paul Verhoeven's film is considered one of the greatest Dutch films of all time but it failed to make Oscar's list despite a Golden Globe nomination
- A Woman Like Eve (1979) The first time The Netherlands sent a female director was this drama from feminist Nouchka van Brakel about a woman leaving her husband for another woman. They've sent several female filmmakers since then.
- The Fourth Man (1983) One of the raciest films we can recall being submitted to Oscar -- homosex, heterosex, extreme violence (it's Verhoeven, what do you expect?), and sometimes combinations of those things -- and supposedly the biggest Dutch hit ever within US arthouses... but Oscar passed as you would easily expect. (I rented it on VHS in the late 80s when I was too young for it and was absolutely scandalized.)
- The Assault (1986) Winner
- The Vanishing (1988) This morbid thriller and international hit was disqualified for some reason (and then remade in English with Jeff Bridges as the villain to diminishing returns, qualitatively speaking)
- Antonia's Line (1995) Winner
Character was the winner in a field with no clear frontrunner (the frontrunner was arguably Belgium's My Life in Pink given its BAFTA and Globe nominations but Oscar snubbed it come nomination time)
- Character (1997) Winner
- Zus & Zo (2002) Nominee
- Twin Sisters (2003) Nominee
- Black Book (2006) Finalist but this one sadly missed the nomination though it was widely regarded as a strong return to form for Verhoeven after his Hollywood years. Plus that spectacular leading performance from Carice van Houten
- Winter in Wartime (2009) Finalist
- Accused (2014) Finalist
Most Frequently Submitted Dutch Directors
Verhoven on the set of Black Book (2006) with Carice van Houten
- Fons Rademaker (5 submissions, 2 nominated films, 1 of which won)
- Paul Verhoeven (4 submissions - 1 nominated film, 1 finalist... he also had a submission from France recently with Elle which Oscar also passed on outside of Best Actress. Grrrr)
- Paula van der Oest (3 submissions - 1 nominated film, 1 finalist)
- Pieter Verhoeff (3 submissions, none of them nominated)
- [TIE] 2 submissions each, neither of them nominated: Mijke de Jong, Alex van Warmerdam, Nouchka van Brakl, Maria Petters, Rudolf van den Berg and Bert Haanstra
Reader Comments (9)
Village on the River is a real sleeper. It should have won, as well as Turkish Delight - beats the hell out of the winner, Truffaut's narcissistic valentine to himself, Day for Night
The Fourth Man is so excellent, it also made a star out of Jeroen Krabbe, and probably the most controversial scene is Krabbe feeling up Jesus on the cross in a church.
Zus and Zo is one of the most putrid films ever to get an Oscar nomination. A dopey comedy about some sisters trying to prevent their gay brother from marrying, in order to preserve an inheritance (or something like that, I've tried to flush it out of my mind). And to think they chose this stinker over The Son, Oasis, Mondays in the Sun, Lilja 4-Ever, 8 Women, and, wait for it, City of God!
The Twin Sisters is excellent, it's a shame it never got much of a distribution in the USA.
The Vanishing was disqualified under a rule that's now been discarded that the film had to be primarily in the language of the submitting country. It's almost entirely in French. I'll just mention here that this may be the scariest movie ever for me. I saw it 30 years ago and it STILL gives me nightmares now and then. That ending!
I saw Character but for the life of me don’t remeber anything about it.
The best Dutch Oscar submissions who weren't nominated or short-listed:
Like Two Drops of Water (1963) - One of the Fons Rademakers entries. Based on one of the greatest Dutch novels ever written.
The Human Dutch (1964) - By Bert Haanstra. One of the delightful documentaries you will ever see.
The Notherners (1992) & Borgman (2013) - By Alex van Warmerdam. Just like Wes Anderson, you can see it's Alex van Warmerdam film from only one frame. Alex van Warmerdam did it first.
The Netherlands is probably also the only country to submit a film featuring a sex scene with a nude 14 year old actress and a 25 year old actor.
ZUS & ZO is one of the most horrid nominees of this category.
I'm not as familiar with early Verhoeven as I should.
Peggy Sue -- same. I love Verhoeven but I haven't seen his first two biggies (TURKISH DELIGHT and SOLDIER ORANGE)
Ralph -- okay, i'll bite Ralph. Which movie is that? Dutch cinema is so racy/problematic. That's also the country that made "For a Lost Soldier" in which Jeroen Krabbe plays a man who fondly recalls his gay childhood affair with an adult soldier.
Schatjes! (aka Army Brats) (1984, Ruud van Hemert)
One and a half million people saw it (a black comedy) in the cinema when the country had a population of 14 million. I also saw that in cinema at the tender age of 8, even although it was rated 12 years and old if I remember correctly. In some countries those scenes are officially child pornography and even here discussions has been raised about in the last few years.
Nathaniel, I would highly recommand you watch Soldier of Orange (Soldaat van Oranje) and Turkish Delight (Turks Fruit) ASAP.
Also if you haven't seen Verhoeven's Katie Tippel (Keetje Tippel) and Spetters add them too.
I had never heard of it before but The Fourth Man has just shot to the top of my “To Watch” list! Thank you!