Conspiracies by virtue are US made. The Dutch have never cared much about conspiracies. The events of the day that Pim Fortuyn was murdered have triggered a wild variety of conspiracies about almost anything nowadays. The Dutch have become Americans in more ways than they would like to acknowledge. This movie is clearly based on Oliver Stone's masterpiece JFK. Theo van Gogh has made a clever attempt in pointing out facts that almost everyone who had something to lose in the elections of 2002 or something to gain wanted Fortuyn out of the way. The resemblance with the death of JFK is apparent.
It is a fact that heavy police activity was noticed in the area of the assassination prior to the shooting. It is a fact that Mat Herben was a little known politician who rose to power after the election. In true conspiracy style Van Gogh links the election with king makers very much like the king makers in Being There. Reference is made to the Bilderberg Group. Apparently Mat Herben was spotted at one of those secret meetings. Mat Herben is known to be a Freemason. It is interesting to note that then Prime Minister Win Kok was quoted as saying "that he thought that political assassinations were a thing of the past". No journalist ever followed up on that rather odd remark.
The movie is entertaining, the acting is much better than expected and the plot does contain holes as Van Gogh took too little time to further develop the story. The Dutch have a lot to learn about conspiracies in general. They make the fundamental mistake of filling in gaps left in the official story without asking the right questions first. In JFK the movie, there is a famous quote by Jim Garrison: "Ask the question!". Maybe, just maybe the official story intentionally leaves holes for conspiracy theorists to make the number one mistake..
It is a fact that heavy police activity was noticed in the area of the assassination prior to the shooting. It is a fact that Mat Herben was a little known politician who rose to power after the election. In true conspiracy style Van Gogh links the election with king makers very much like the king makers in Being There. Reference is made to the Bilderberg Group. Apparently Mat Herben was spotted at one of those secret meetings. Mat Herben is known to be a Freemason. It is interesting to note that then Prime Minister Win Kok was quoted as saying "that he thought that political assassinations were a thing of the past". No journalist ever followed up on that rather odd remark.
The movie is entertaining, the acting is much better than expected and the plot does contain holes as Van Gogh took too little time to further develop the story. The Dutch have a lot to learn about conspiracies in general. They make the fundamental mistake of filling in gaps left in the official story without asking the right questions first. In JFK the movie, there is a famous quote by Jim Garrison: "Ask the question!". Maybe, just maybe the official story intentionally leaves holes for conspiracy theorists to make the number one mistake..