The Promise of Pisa (2019)

Directed by: Norbert ter Hall | 110 minutes | drama | Actors: Shahine El-Hamus, Olivia Lonsdale, Yorick van Wageningen, Mahfoud Mokaddem, Sjaak, Monic Hendrickx, Thor Braun, Nora El Koussour, Noureddine Farihi, Simone Giel, Cees Heyne, Tine Joustra, Mahfoud Mokaddem, Valerie Pos, Raymond Thiry, Nils Verkooijen, Yorick van Wageningen, Carly Wijs

A Kyteman-like trumpeter of Moroccan descent (El Hamus) and a spirited Southern Lolita (Lonsdale): ‘The promise of Pisa’ is clearly from the Amsterdam street. No coincidence, of course, with Norbert ter Hall and Robert Alberdinck Thijm on the title role, the makers of “A’dam – EVA”. The promised coming-of-age drama, a fixed value in the usually pretentious prospectus of the Dutch book adaptation, is not quite offered; the traditional Dutch sex, which of course we have to wait for with El Hamus and Lonsdale as music school mates Sam and Annelies, can be called really horny this time, and that is not in the stars of the Dutch film.

‘The Promise of Pisa’, after the novel of the same name by Mano Bouzamour, is in any case based on a striking atmospheric drawing, for example of Amsterdam South with its ‘understanding’ parents, but also of the migrant environment in which Samir grows up. For example, at the beginning of the film we find a striking scene in which brothers and friends disrupt an Anne Frank commemoration, referring to the role of the Amsterdam police in the deportation of Jews; Ter Hall et al. subtly interweave the romantic interest, normally worn out by the Dutch book filmmakers like real elephants in the china shop, with the degeneration of the young Sam into a ‘real’ Dutchman.

Difficult, because older brother Sol has been convicted as a robber and that isn’t worked out very well, but you want Sam to be okay and it’s not left sideways but is delivered respectfully, including a painful scene where a family member gets his hands dirty wipes on the Dutch flag that Sam wants to hang in honor of his diploma. As said, it will not be a real coming of age like Bouzamour’s novel; however, the awkward clashes between South and Mocro are quite successful. The ‘cheeses’ initially lose out. Initially, you understand, but it never gets really heavy.