Limburgia (2017)

Directed by: Noël Loozen | 45 minutes | drama, comedy, romance | Actors: Michiel Kerbosch, Tarik Moree, Mieneke Bakker

On the day that Willie (beautiful role by Michiel Kerbosch) thinks he will become king of bird shooting at the local militia, his wife dies in a bad way in a car accident. Where he hoped to experience the most beautiful day of his life, powerless sadness remains. Everything he ever lived for is gone in one fell swoop. The word formerly has lost all its meaning. His life has collapsed.

This synopsis suggests a heavy drama, but talented director Noël Loozen keeps it remarkably light. The clumsiness of the militia association and other traditions from bygone times. The nice and bold generational difference with the youth of today. The emphatically bombastic mayor from the Randstad. Above all, ‘Limburgia’ makes a delightful mockery of the life of the past and that of today. Also visually Loozen does not keep it too heavy by using a visual style related to Wes Anderson. Many expressive colours, a playful use of symmetry and actors who regularly look directly into the camera give ‘Limburgia’ exactly that slightly absurdist tone that fits a film like this.

Because all that nonsense is of course not without reason. Limburg is perhaps the pre-eminent province where the gap between the traditions of the past and the life of today is greatest. And where people react most passionately to it (the political voting behavior of the province is a good example of this). Willie’s soul journey takes the viewer effectively into that world of experience. And shows, however small life is, that for people like him it is the only world. And however illusionary that world may seem to us, it is one of devotion, happiness and love. Staying too long in the past may not be a good idea, that ends up being quite destructive in ‘Limburgia’, but with a good balance between the traditions of yesteryear and modern life, we as humans are well on our way.