The Netherlands

Synopsis

A young policeman is forced from high quarters to run an old buddy-turned-into-drug dealer as informer. A drama about the drugs-trade and corruption in the Dutch police force. Based on the true story "SANS RANCUNE" by former Dutch policeman Jan van Daalen.

Eddy, married to Ria, is a cop. But his career isn't really taking off. These two young people also seem to be having trouble having a child. One day the CID (Central Intelligence Department) asks Eddy to organise a meeting with Jack, an old childhood friend of his, who is actively committed to a life of crime. This gives Eddy a chance to get on in life. Jack, who has just fathered a bouncing baby daughter, eagerly seizes the opportunity of becoming a police informer. He can lead a 'new life' and continue dealing in hash, in exchange for information that will lead to the downfall of the drug baron Haveman.

The only condition Jack makes in accepting this double role is that Eddy, and Eddy alone, is the only person he will maintain contact with. He trusts Eddy. Eddy won't betray him. Eddy knows what Jack can be like when he is screwed. Eddy is his life-insurance policy. Unwillingly, and under pressure from above, Eddy accepts his röle of 'handler' for this special informer.

But when it gradually emerges that police operations based on information provided by Jack always go wrong at the last moment because the criminals have got wind of them, it becomes increasingly clear that not only the criminals have grasses. It looks as if there is also a 'leak' in the police force. At first Eddy suspects his immediate superior, Berg, but he has no evidence.

Both the cops and the crooks look for their informers and try to stop the leak in their different ways. And Eddy is in danger of becoming a pawn of both criminals and police in their search for the names of the betrayers. Eddy no longer knows who he can trust and -- prompted by threats from Jack, who knows that if his name surfaces, an underworld hit will be his fate -- he starts actively looking for the 'bent cop' in the police force. This increasingly isolates Eddy from his colleagues.

When the crooks realise that Eddy is the police informer's handler, they also go after him. In a last-ditch attempt to right the wrongs, Eddy sees everything going wrong that could possibly go wrong and Jack and Eddy come face to face. An attempt to intimidate his wife finally brings Eddy to the realisation that he has to take control and choose for the things that are important to him...

Director's Biography

Jean van de Velde was born in 1957 in Bukavu, the Belgian Congo. He spent much of his childhood at boarding school in Holland and parts in several countries of Africa. In 1974 he attended the Dutch Film Academy, which he left prematurely in 1977 to co-operate with two fellow students, Leon de Winter and Rene Seegers, on making Iow-budget features and documentaries. This triumvirate, united under the name De Eerste Amsterdamse Filmassociatie (The First Amsterdam Film Association), produced five features in the period 1978-1985 of which Van de Velde directed three: the third part of the three-part DE VERWORDING VAN HERMAN DURER (1979), THE DISTANCE (1982) and PARFAIT AMOUR (1985). In 1986 Jean van de Velde left the triumvirate and decided to concentrate on writing filmscripts. Many of his scripts have been successfully filmed by directors including Pieter Verhoeff, Ben Verbong and Stijn Coninx: COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS (1988), URUG (1993), THE FLAT (1994), BENTINCK (1995), WHEN THE LIGHT COMES (1998).
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Cast & Crew

Directed by: Jean van de Velde

Written by: Simon de Waal, Jean van de Velde

Cinematography: Jules van den Steenhoven

Editing: Herman P. Koerts

Production Design: Rikke Jelier, Alfred Schaaf

Costume Design: Simone Geels

Cast: Victor Löw (Jack Boon), Cas Jansen (Eddy Dolstra), Ricky Koole (Ria Dolstra)

Nominations and Awards

  • Feature Film Selection 2000