After decades of mainly playing intimidating psychos in Hollywood movies Rutger Hauer has been lured back to his native Holland for the chance to play a helpless victim for once. This true life tale sees him as Freddy Heineken, lager magnet and a man not short of spare change. In 1983 he was abducted and held in a grotty cell for 21 days before his kidnapper’s ransom demands were met. Upon being released, a traumatised Heineken used his unlimited wealth to help the police track down his abductors and bring them to justice.
The first half of the film is told from the perspective of the youngest of the kidnappers, Rem (Reinout Scholten van Aschat), as he helps the others plan their nefarious deed and is then put in charge of taking care of Heineken. The problem with having Rem as a protagonist is that it soon becomes clear that he’s a sadistic little shit and despite being given a back-story that is supposed to gain our sympathy (he has an invalid, alcoholic father who bizarrely blames Heineken for his condition) when he starts psychologically abusing a scared and confused pensioner for his own amusement even the most anti-capitalist audience member is going to side with the millionaire.
This confusion about whose side we’re supposed to be on is compounded in the second half when we’re clearly meant to be rooting for Heineken and the police to track down and punish the kidnappers, especially Rem, who is now apparently no longer worthy of our sympathy. It makes the film a frustratingly unfocused experience which is a shame because director Maarten Treurniet knows how to work up suspense and if the film has the look and feel of the Nordic Noir thrillers that have been coming out of Scandinavia. Were it a little more focused and tightly scripted it would stand up with the best of them.
Overall Verdict: A well paced and tense true-story thriller that’s let down by its muddled focus and confusion over where the audience’s sympathies are supposed to lie.
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Trailer
Reviewer: Adam Pidgeon