Instant Favorite.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

When I first read about this movie I was pleasantly surprised. Making a movie about Oss in the Netherlands depicting the problems (crime, poverty) in the 1930's. I read a lot about what happened in that period. Moreover my grandfather was a member of the Marechaussee in Oss in those days. He was – to say the least – responsible for the arrest of a lot of those criminals in that period. That's why I have to say, that this movie doesn't give an accurate picture of the situation in that period. Not at all to be honest. There are a couple of persons (whose names are different in the movie of course) who really existed in those days and have committed the crimes that you can see in the movie. But apart from that the movie isn't historically correct. Well, that doesn't have to be a problem of course, since most of the viewers know nothing of what happened during those days in and around Oss. So it doesn't bother me really. What does bother me really very much is the fact that in the end of the movie people can read on the screen that many of the Marechaussee members joined the NSB (a pro Nazi movement in Holland in those days). That is absolutely not true. There may have been a few, but most of them joined the underground resistance, who helped American and British pilots to escape from the Germans). In my opinion the movie makers should have been more careful in making such a statement. Apart from that it is not a bad movie. The settings are OK as well as the clothing, the speech (dialect the people speak). The movie depicts the atmosphere of life in those days in a Dutch small city. All in all a nice movie to watch on a rainy afternoon. But keep in mind that the link to the real situation in those days isn't really present in the movie (well maybe for about 5%).

Oss is a city with a violent past, a city which has seen numerous changes both on industrial, criminal and civilized levels. These changes were seen all over the Netherlands, but for that period of time no example was so striking or extreme like it was in Oss.André van Duren is a case of good Dutch film-maker which has lots of quality and not too much work. He has proved his skill with historical portraits in the past and De Bende van Oss is one of the few successful attempt to portray the region of Oss in that period. Cleverly shot in Ravenstein, Herpen, Keent and Oss itself, with the exception of some studio work, all feels quite authentic.The cast is mostly put together from Brabanders (the province in which Oss lies) and this works well enough. Of course, they cannot speak with the right dialect for the film should be understood all over the Netherlands, but that doesn't bother much. The acting balanced between realistic and over the top.This is the case with the entire film. It's brought with realism but there are many grotesque elements present. Somehow the film manages to find a delicate balance between those two. The soundtrack by Paleis van Boem works nice and gives it a special touch.There are some problems with the film, like the gangleader is the least scary and convincing of the entire gang and he is more clown than Capone at times (not in a good way) but the rest of the cast carries him well enough so you won't really be bothered by it.This film did cost about 3,5 mil euros which is a large budget for the Netherlands. If you think they transformed and built a convincing world with that money on par with 50+ mil Hollywood productions I can't help to wonder how we in our humble country manage to do it sometimes.A good film, sometimes a little unsolid and at times plain great with many human touches, this is a film of which the Dutch people can be proud and will largely entertain themselves with.

This movie gives an excellent idea of how life in a criminal gang was - in a small city in the Dutch outback (Oss, North-Brabant) in the 1930's. How the gang, with the help of the Roman Church and factory-owners, could flourish in a mental climate of hatred against the national government and it's military police ('marechaussee'). 'We from Oss', catholic southerners, speaking a different dialect against 'Them' - the Dutch occupiers, mostly protestants who speak 'high' dutch and who use the marechaussee to keep the Oss'ians down under. It's an honest film which tries to follow history more or less precise. By placing one member of the gang in the middle of the story (a woman, bar-owner and prostitute) it personalizes this history. The way she is portrayed in her attempt to get rid of the gang life and flee with one of her lovers is convincing and phenomenal! In the beginning she is only shrewd" an opportunist, only out for the money and for her own survival. But later on we see that she does care and she does have a morale, a conscience. It;s not black and white. And therefore - and for the fine actors, good dialogs and historical props - it's an excellent film in my opinion.

The first thing you notice about the film is just how beautifully made it is. Everything from the costume, set, acting, and the general atmosphere of the film is excellent. Very good attention to detail.The story is interesting and although it is based on a true story, still full of the unexpected and is very original.My biggest problem with this film is the length and tempo of it. It is a long film and although I appreciate that they would want to stay true to the story but that causes the film to drag in places and feels very slow. And it is very easy to loose interest and difficult to keep your attention on the film in places.A nice film with an interesting story line.