SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Lee Eisenberg A key feature of cinema is that it can show us a part of history that contradicts our stereotypes - positive or negative - about a place or people. Mike van Diem's "Character" is one such movie. We think of the Netherlands as one of the most pristine and wholesome countries in the world. Well it appears that this was not always the case.This adaptation of Ferdinand Bordewijk's novel focuses on Jacob, a man who has had to struggle all his life to get by. The son of a bailiff's housekeeper, Jacob (the product of an apparent rape) spends his life getting bullied every step of the way, while the bailiff refuses to acknowledge him. Indeed, the bailiff makes Jacob's life miserable every step of the way. There are also scenes showing the police raiding workers' rallies (admit it: you thought that sort of thing never happened in the Netherlands).At once a study of an individual's travails and also a look at damaged relationships (as well as the unseemly side of Dutch history), van Diem's movie is an outstanding piece of work. With complex characters and true-to-life gritty settings, it's a movie that you have to see. It definitely deserved its Oscar win. I wholly recommend it.

Claudio Carvalho In the 20's, in Netherlands, Jacob Willem Katadreuffe (Fedja van Huêt) has just concluded the law school and has an argument with the High Court Enforcement Officer Dreverhaven (Jan Decleir) at his office. Katadreuffe leaves the place covered in blood. On the next morning, he is arrested by the police for the murder of Dreverhaven. He claims that he is innocent and discloses the story of his life to the Chief of Police. His mother Joba (Betty Schuurman) was the maid at Dreverhaven. One night, she is raped by him and a couple of weeks later she learns that she is pregnant. Dreverhaven proposes to marry her but Joba quits her job and leaves his house. Along the years, Katadreuffe is bullied at school and called bastard by his mates and his mother never talks to him. One day, he is involved by other kids in a theft of bread and arrested by the police. When he calls his biological father to help him, Dreverhaven tells the police that he does not know who Katadreuffe is. The boy is intelligent and learns English reading a superseded and incomplete edition of encyclopedia that was left behind by the previous tenants of his apartment. Katadreuffe is also ambitious and asks for a job in a law office, where he becomes the protégé of his mentor De Gankelaar (Victor Löw). Soon he falls in unrequited love with the secretary Lorna Te George Victor (Tamar van den Dop). Along the years, Dreverhaven uses his power to harm him. When he concluded his course, he decides to pay a visit to Dreverhaven to tell him that he has wined their dispute. May Katadreuffe have killed Dreverhaven? "Karakter" is a dark film about a young man needy of fatherly love. The intercourse between his parents is never clear whether it was a rape, as per the trailer, or consensual sex. In the view of Katadreuffe, his mother has always been "mute". But maybe it could be a trauma for her only intercourse since she is a stubborn woman. Dreverhaven is a mysterious and ambiguous character. Is he only cruel or is he trying to harden his son to face the challenges of the brutal society where they live and be a winner? The screenplay is very well-written and keeps the attention of the viewer until the last scene. The cinematography, set decoration and art direction are perfect and bring the viewer to Netherlands in the middle 20's. The cast has magnificent performance highlighting Jan Decleir. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Caráter" ("Character")

Ben Larson This is the second Jan Decleir film I have watched today. It was the Best Foreign Film winner at the 1998 Oscars.The age old story of the hatred between father (Declrir) and son (Fedja van Huêt), a man easy to hate as he was totally without compassion.Katadreuffe, the product of a one-nighter between his father and mother, grows up and makes good, but it is only to spite his father.If watching this film reminds you of a classic novel, it is it's Dickensonion mood, where we are focused on the poverty of the city, and the cruelty by government officials.Beautiful cinematography by Rogier Stoffers and Mike van Diem's direction and screenplay are almost perfect.

samkan There is Shylock, Iago and the Wicked Witch of the West but they're all sissies compared to Dreverhaven. You've just never seen a more evil vile character exist on film. If he were coming to my house to collect I think I'd soil my pants and offer him my first born.From a learning point of view the depiction of urban life in Holland between the wars was truly enlightening. While being told the Dutch were stern bean counters, we're usually shown life in the Netherlands as tulip frolicking with windmills in the background. CHARACTER can function as an enjoyable study of a culture fixed on hard economics with passion smoldering underneath (same with GIRL WITH A PEARL EARING, which you shouldn't miss).But Baliff/Dad Dreverhaven should've been allowed to repo a personal Oscar. The scenes were he evicts the "dying" and suffers a nightmare were worth an admission price. Not to mention the most miserable mother you've seen on screen this side of Grendel's nanny. I enjoyed the Dickens-like life of our young protagonist but his parents steal the show.