"06/05", referring to the day Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was murdered, is the last movie by Dutch filmmaker and infant terrible Theo van Gogh, who was killed by a Muslim extremist shortly after he completed shooting this movie.
"06/05" tries to convince the viewer that the Dutch intelligence services was aware of a conspiracy to kill Fortuyn, but chose not to intervene because this would benefit their political agendas. It also claims that various politicians and media personalities, by saying very harsh things about Fortuyn, created an atmosphere that facilitated or even directly led to the murder.
For a movie that makes such bold statements, everything hinges on how convincing it can carry those statements across. Unfortunately, "06/05" fails to make its statements believable. It does make it clear that various people went way too far in the things they said to and about Fortuyn, but it fails to explain why this would automatically lead to murder. There's a difference between words and deeds, you know, and holding an entire group responsible for the actions of one madman is cheap, to say the least. It also glosses over the fact that Fortuyn consciously chose the role of the victim and cleverly provoked a lot of the reactions, and insulted lots of people himself.
The actual conspiracy theory presented here is very straightforward and rather predictable, but not all that convincing . It's good enough to serve as a movie plot, but it's not nearly good enough to make you believe that something like it actually happened since it's very clearly mostly just fiction.
So, as a political statement, "06/05" mostly fails, but is it still good entertainment? IMHO, not really. Theo van Gogh's directing style might work for documentaries, but it's too straightforward and rushed to create any form of tension, or to make you care about any of the characters. Fairly uninspired acting and dialog don't really help either. The leads are OK, but some of the supporting roles are horribly miscast (Jack Wouterse as head of intelligence...yeah right) and the Dutch actors that speak English are embarrassing. Also, the action sequences really could have used some work, because they're utterly amateurish.
All in all, it's an OK movie, but it's not very convincing as a political statement, and only mildly successful as entertainment.
**1/2 out of *****
"06/05" tries to convince the viewer that the Dutch intelligence services was aware of a conspiracy to kill Fortuyn, but chose not to intervene because this would benefit their political agendas. It also claims that various politicians and media personalities, by saying very harsh things about Fortuyn, created an atmosphere that facilitated or even directly led to the murder.
For a movie that makes such bold statements, everything hinges on how convincing it can carry those statements across. Unfortunately, "06/05" fails to make its statements believable. It does make it clear that various people went way too far in the things they said to and about Fortuyn, but it fails to explain why this would automatically lead to murder. There's a difference between words and deeds, you know, and holding an entire group responsible for the actions of one madman is cheap, to say the least. It also glosses over the fact that Fortuyn consciously chose the role of the victim and cleverly provoked a lot of the reactions, and insulted lots of people himself.
The actual conspiracy theory presented here is very straightforward and rather predictable, but not all that convincing . It's good enough to serve as a movie plot, but it's not nearly good enough to make you believe that something like it actually happened since it's very clearly mostly just fiction.
So, as a political statement, "06/05" mostly fails, but is it still good entertainment? IMHO, not really. Theo van Gogh's directing style might work for documentaries, but it's too straightforward and rushed to create any form of tension, or to make you care about any of the characters. Fairly uninspired acting and dialog don't really help either. The leads are OK, but some of the supporting roles are horribly miscast (Jack Wouterse as head of intelligence...yeah right) and the Dutch actors that speak English are embarrassing. Also, the action sequences really could have used some work, because they're utterly amateurish.
All in all, it's an OK movie, but it's not very convincing as a political statement, and only mildly successful as entertainment.
**1/2 out of *****