| Redbad | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Film poster | |
| Directed by | Roel Reiné |
| Written by | Alex van Galen |
| Produced by | Roel Reiné Klaas de Jong |
| Starring | Gijs Naber |
| Cinematography | Roel Reiné |
| Edited by | Radu Ion |
| Music by | Trevor Morris |
Production company | Farmhouse Film & TV |
| Distributed by | Splendid Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 160 minutes |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Languages | Dutch English |
| Budget | €8 million |
| Box office | $482,992[1][2] |
Redbad is a 2018 Dutchdrama film directed byRoel Reiné.[3] It is based on the life ofRadbod, an early medievalFrisian leader. The film was intended as the middle part of a trilogy about iconic Dutch/Frisian heroes, starting with the filmMichiel de Ruyter, about the 17th century admiralMichiel de Ruyter, and ending with an unmade film aboutWilliam of Orange.[4]
In August 2017, Gijs Naber was announced as the lead actor, andHuub Stapel would play Redbad's father Frysian kingAldgisl[5] Soon afterward it was confirmed thatDerek de Lint,Egbert-Jan Weber,Loes Haverkort,Lisa Smit,Martijn Fischer,Tuin Keulboer,Aus Greidanus sr.,Jack Wouterse,Renée Soutendijk andBirgit Schuurman were all cast[6] and in October 2017 actor,Jonathan Banks was also cast for the film.[7]
The film was shot in theprehistoric village-museum inEindhoven,[8]De Alde Feanen National Park,[9]Ameland,Moddergat,[10] theWadden Sea, Denmark, theGerman city ofWallsbüll and theBouillon Castle in Belgium.[5] The film was shot in 42 days and used more than 10,000 extras, which is a record amount for a Dutch production. The final shooting day was on 19 November 2017.[11] The sound for film movie was produced byDolby Atmos.[12]
Before the film's release it was already sold to multiple countries and territories, among themGermany,France,China,Spain,Turkey,South Korea,Poland,Romania,Hungary,Slovakia, theCzech Republic, the Middle East and theCommonwealth of Independent States.[13] In FebruaryEpic Pictures Group bought the North American distribution rights.[14] Early test footage of the film was shown on 31 March and 1 April atDutch Comic Con in theJaarbeurs inUtrecht.[15]
In May 2018, the producers of the film announced thatYouTube andFacebook had sent an email to them that they would not show the trailer of the film on their platforms because it was considered offensive to large groups of people. Producer Klaas de Jong also mentioned he got hundreds of angry mails from Christians who did not agree with their depiction of historical events.[16]
The film premiered on 23 June 2018, in an open air screening on the Wilhelminasquare inLeeuwarden, as part of the celebrations around theEuropean Capital of Culture,[17][18] a week later, on 28 June, it was released in cinemas nationwide. After its first month it only earned €332,785 back from its 8 million euro budget, making it the biggestbox office bomb in the country's history. The producers of the film claimed this was because thewarm weather andWorld Cup kept the public outside of cinemas.[19][20] The film was released in4DX in twoPathé-cinemas inAmsterdam andRotterdam, making it the first Dutch film released in 4DX.[12] Seven weeks after its release it was already moved tovideo on demand-platformPathé Thuis. This was at the time the shortest window between a theatre release and home release for a big Dutch production, which normally takes a period of three months.[21] The film was also later edited into a four-part television miniseries, where they showed unused footage of the film.[22]
The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews from the major Dutch newspapers.[23] TheAlgemeen Dagblad said that everything in this movie takes too long, “the fight scenes, the introductions of the characters and the explanatory dialogue slow down the movie”.[24]De Volkskrant gave it two stars, praising the fight scenes but finding the screenplay clearly lacking in logic and tension.[4]NRC Handelsblad said the movie was weighed down by a very top-heavy screenplay and an over reliance on drama.[25]Trouw praised actorGijs Naber but complained about the awful dialogue which was clearly written from a 21st-century perspective.[26]De Telegraaf while praising the ambition of the movies said that it takes too long and is overly reliant on close-ups and slow motion-scenes. They also praisedJonathan Banks in his role and remarked that it looked as if actorJack Wouterse was in a completely different movie.[27]Het Parool praised the fact that directorRoel Reine put his own signature on the film and that the troubled production was barely noticeable. However they do mention that it is sometimes noticeable that they did not have enough extras in some of the fight scenes.[28]
In an article by Asing Walthaus of theLeeuwarder Courant, historian Han Nijdam noted several historical inaccuracies. He pointed out that the castle in the film and the knights withchainmail armour are from theLate Middle Ages and not from theEarly Middle Ages that the film depicts. He also complained that the film portrays the Frysians as barbarians in animal hides living in leaking huts even though it is proven that they lived in wooden houses with woventapestries on their walls. It was his conclusion that the film puts spectacle over any form of historical accuracy.[29]
The film was selected for the international Look-competition of theOstend Film Festival.[30] In July 2018, it was one of nine films shortlisted by theEYE film institute to be the Dutch entry for theBest Foreign Language Film at the91st Academy Awards, but it was not selected.[31] The film played at theNetherlands Film Festival[32] but was, to the surprise of some major newspapers, not nominated for anyGolden Calves.[33][34]
In November 2018, the producers of the film announced that they would be suingYouTube for 200,000 euros because illegal copies of the film were viewed half a million times on the website.[35]