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Gerlach (2023)

Documentary | 77 minutes
3,78 37 votes

Genre: Documentary

Duration: 77 minuten

Alternative title: Gerlach - De Laatste Boer

Country: Netherlands

Directed by: Luuk Bouwman and Aliona van der Horst

IMDb score: 7,6 (136)

Releasedate: 10 November 2023

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This movie is not available on US streaming services.

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Gerlach plot

Farmer Gerlach has been trying to maintain his human dignity for half a century while the forces of society batter his existence. Gerlach is the last farmer (arable farmer) in Amstelveen. He has lived on the farm all his life in a simple wooden house. He is a man 'made from one piece', but he has seen everything change around him. First there was farmland, meadows and fields on all sides. His house is now surrounded by the symbols of 'big capital'. His kitchen and the greengrocer's shop in the shed are a meeting place for people from all walks of life. All the big and small things in life are discussed there and Gerlach helps the types who 'just come along'. From his piece of land, Gerlach views the absurd world around him philosophically and with humor.

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avatar van mrklm

mrklm

  • 11374 messages
  • 9897 votes

Gerlach van Beinum took over the family farm 60 years ago when his father died. In a video from 1975 we see that the farm was then located on a quiet road in a rural area and that the home shop was still the domain of Gerlach's mother. More than 40 years later, Gerlach is fighting a lonely battle to preserve his farm and his familiar life. With the help of his brothers, he wins a short and ridiculous summary judgment against the municipality of Amstelveen, but since he has no descendants, it seems a matter of time before the Van Beinum family's fields fall prey to the big money with which distribution centers will be built. Van der Horst and Bouwman try to mythologize Gerlach too emphatically with beautiful cinematography and symbolism, but that is not necessary at all. The interaction with family, friends and customers and Gerlach's common sense and affable smile speak for themselves.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van De filosoof

De filosoof

  • 2449 messages
  • 1664 votes

The subtitle is 'The last farmer' and that summarizes the documentary: it portrays the old Gerlach, who is bent by rheumatism, as the 'last farmer' in the sense that he is possibly the last, traditional 'real' farmer in the Netherlands who is literally still living with digs his claws into the earth and sells the fruits of his land directly in his shop, where his life has also entered its final phase and his best friend already precedes him in death. His struggle against the end of his profession and his life is hopeless – as a puny individual he is defenseless against the forces of both big business (distribution centers) and nature (climate change) – but he accepts his fate good-naturedly and reflects with philosophical distance.

The documentary is fascinating, although it is difficult to say why: it probably evokes feelings of nostalgia for a time when people and work were still 'honest' (which, for example, is also reflected in the Boerderij van Dorst program) and it also has to do with the tragedy of a hopeless struggle of a lonely man against the system and against forces much bigger than him (and which in that sense also has something religious). All in all, it is an endearing documentary about an endearing man.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van T.O.

T.O.

  • 2413 messages
  • 2790 votes

Occasionally a bit too many documentary tricks and that guitar strumming in the background we know by now. But otherwise well executed. Nice how you can make something with so few resources that you reflect on a grand scale.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original