The award for the best Dutch film made in 2021 was won by this exceptional combination of thriller and drama based on true events. “The Judgement” deals with a well-known Dutch murder case from the turn of the 20th to the 21st century, and it is a film that follows the classics of the genre such as “All the President’s Men” or “Spotlight” and follows the investigation of the crime that shocked the Netherlands from the perspective television journalist. He is Bas Haan (Fedja van Huet), an investigative reporter for a show on Dutch television who, just like all the media in the country, became interested in the case of the cold-blooded murder of a rich widow.
Her accountant, Ernest Louwes, was quickly suspected, accused, and then convicted, but Haan is convinced that he is not the murderer, but that the guilty man was convicted without valid evidence. The tapestry around this case will last ten years, new evidence will constantly appear, and the Dutchman Sander Burger made an extremely dynamic and intriguing, but also complex film. The murder in Deventer, as the Dutch media called this case, was a first-class media product there for years, and the whole case will soon turn into complete sensationalism and exploitation.
Especially when the case involves the controversial Dutch businessman Maurice de Hoorn, a guy who will also lead a separate investigation convinced that the accountant is not guilty. Almost every day he will be a guest on various television shows, present some new conclusions, even publicly accuse another person of murder, after which we follow how the life of that person accused of murder will slowly turn into hell. The title of the film “The Judgement” is quite ambiguous, because although we follow the murder trials, it also deals with the life of someone who is not only convicted, but also formally accused, but the public has condemned him in advance.
It is a film that brilliantly shows the power of the media and how easy it is to manipulate people and what are the ethical boundaries that the media should not or should cross, but few people are interested in ethics today. Today, everything is in the service of viewership, clicks, and, in parallel, profit, and “The Judgemenet” excellently portrays that time at the turn of the century when television was at the peak of popularity while the Internet was still shyly making its way. As time will pass, Haan will also change from a guy who also chased sensations and was only interested in being the first, into a guy who is aware of his own social role and who will try to force out the truth to the end.