How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

THE PREACHER (Gerrard Verhage - Netherlands 2004).Well crafted film about the rise and fall of Dutch drug-lord Klaas Bruinsma, based on the book by Bart Middelburg published in 1991, the year Bruinsma was assassinated before the Hilton in Amsterdam. In the '70s and '80s he was the key marijuana importer in Western Europe, and built a huge empire based on drug trafficking ("only soft drugs", he claims repeatedly), gambling and prostitution. At first he wants to stay clear from violence, but these attitudes don't last very long in the business like this, and soon he descends into an ever more violent downward spiral, until his own violent death.For unknown legal reasons the name of the main character in the film was changed to Klaas Donkers, but it's common knowledge the filmmakers were urged by Amsterdam crime figures to change a couple of names, mainly because of still ongoing violent disputes in the aftermath of his death (which - believe it or not - are still going on to this very day). So for the film they altered the name of the main character, but it's obvious the film deals, or at least is based, on the life of Klaas Bruinsma.And therein lies one of the weak points of this film. It doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be a screen biography or a more traditional crime saga, with the traditional blueprint of the genre. The rise of Klaas Donkers (Peter Paul Muller) into the big league happens so fast, he's in with the big boys in no time. Before you know what happened, he is negotiating with the very top bosses. Perhaps this was how it all went down, but it seemed a bit sudden to me.Peter Paul Muller as Klaas Donkers does OK and Frank Lammers as his right hand and bodyguard shows he is one of the top actors of his generation. A very intense performance. Chantal Janzen as Annet, his girlfriend, is less convincing. She seems to have decided she is gonna be tough throughout the whole film and delivers her lines with a wooden, albeit, pretty face. And why does she work at a market stand selling second hand clothes, even when she was already involved in a multi-million guilder business as Klaas Donkers accomplice and lover? A hobby of hers, selling second-hand clothes? Many remarks have been made about the set design. I must admit, it is a bit awkward. The film plays roughly from 1973 till 1991. With the exception of the last scene, which looks very much like 1991, the chronology is soon lost on the set designers and we see very strange mixtures of 1973 cars with late eighties clothes. In general, they could have eased up a little on the over-the-top '70s look. Throughout the entire film, they drive around in huge American cars from the early seventies and Amsterdam sometimes looks more like a Middle Eastern bazaar than a European city.Not a very strong film by any standard with an OK but somewhat confusing script, poor dialog and some sub-par performances, but when drugs, murder and beautiful women are involved, you're easily entertained. But be patient with the first twenty minutes.Camera Obscura --- 7/10

Tragedy, Betrayal and Intrigue... this film has a healthy dose of all of these. Not knowing of Klaas Bruinsma I considered this movie to be very well done. After reading up on him I could see how some, with the wrong expectations, could be disappointed after seeing this. It isn't really as accurate to the life of Klaas Bruinsma as some wanted it to be. Personally I think the right amount of artistic liberty was taken to give Klaas some redeeming qualities and to make the movie interesting. If you sit down expecting a movie "inspired by" or "loosely based on" Klaas Bruinsma then you should walk away gratified. The direction was excellent, the acting was excellent and the story was for the most part good. If I had to find something to criticize this movie for it would probably be that they jumped from him being a mid level dealer to a big time boss without much transition in between. This is very minor though. Anyone who does a little bit of reading on the real guy and rethinks the movie can fill in the blanks with a little imagination.While I wouldn't give this a masterpiece/perfect/excellent rating of 9/10 or higher (which I would give to movies like The Godfather or The Usual Suspects) I think this film was above par. Solid 7 or 7.5/10. :) I hope this Director continues making films.

The Dominee succeeds like no other movie in creating a realistic portrait of a hardened criminal. I was blown away by the movie in the same way the Godfather blew me away. The movie is dry, wicked and intriguing. Also, excellent screenplay, especially by Frank Lammers (Adri). I'm shocked it's only rated at 7 at the momentThe story is inspired by Klaas Bruinsma, one of the biggest gangsters of all time. At his top, he traded in softdrugs with more than five different countries and was able to buy the entire Afghan harvest, worth more some $20.000.000. He was the elite of the elite in gangster-Europe, boss of a huge multi-million enterprise. Still, in the starting scene, we see him being killed on the street with no one around him to protect him (at his top, he had six bodyguards around him, almost full time). The movie is about the rise and fall of the biggest gangster Holland has ever seen. Although inspired by his life, it has to be said the movie deludes from the real history at the end (but then again, every Dutchman knows the story, so it would've been too predictable otherwise)

It's a mediocre film, but I think the main problem is Peter Paul Muller is not all that convincing as a bad guy of this magnitude. I surely wasn't impressed with his performance. Also, some of the scenery makes you think the events took place in the eighties, but other scenes are like they happened in our time... there are plenty of thing that don't look like 15-20 years ago.And how come Tygo Gernandt is ALSO in this movie? He is making way too much movies, someone should say to him that it's a Tygo overkill.It was more hype than quality that made this movie, but still it's nice to see a new genre being tried in Dutch Cinema, and overall the acting was good.