BaxDeal@aol.com writ:
> the story concerns a man obsessed with finding his
fiancee,
> who disappeared from a gas station while he went
into the
> mens room to drain the lizard.
As I recall, when he returned with the coffees she had gone.
This led to a search, followed by panic and bewilderment, and
his appeal to the authorities was futile. I think this
opening part of the film manages to portray the central
character's bewilderment and powerlessness rather well.
> a couple years later, his obsession has left his
life a shambles.
The fact that the story unfolds over a period of years adds
to sense of the impact of the event of 'the vanishing' on his
life.
> the sociopath contacts the hero and offers him
the
> opportunity to discover EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED to
his
> girlfriend.
>
> the ending of the Dutch version is one of the
most
> disturbing scenes in cinema.
I wasn't really persuaded by the scenes where he goes along
with the kidnapper ... I'm not sure what would have made this
more convincing. The ending though is what the whole film has
been leading up to, and I agree that it is very disturbing
(so the immediate lead-up doesn't really matter).
> the ending of the American version was absolutely
ludicrous
> and completely invalidates the entire point of
making the
> picture in the first place. shame on all
involved,
> especially George Sluizer.
This makes me think that should this version ever come up on
TV, it's not worth bothering with ... though having said
that, it would be kinda tempting to see how badly botched
this version is! It may be that Sluizer doesn't deserves such
opprobrium though ... he had already made the film once, with
Spoorloos. I don't know the story of the re-make, but it may
be Sluizer was put in a situation where he *had to* use the
ending you describe as ludicrous. However well or however
poorly the re-make turned out, the Dutch film is still
there.
ED
BTW, I don't know if someone fell asleep on their 'return'
key, but I received a very strange digest this morning!
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 31 Jan 2002 EST