Sausage (2006)

Directed by: Ewald Leuwsha | 9 minutes | short film | Actors: Camilla Siegertsz, Richard Gonlag, Nils Verkooijen

There is no talking in this short film by Ewald Leuwsha. The boy, the butcher and the butcher’s wife say nothing to each other. Yet they have a major influence on each other’s lives, especially after an incident in the butcher shop. When the little boy draws attention to the butcher’s wig in front of a shop full of customers, she cannot live with the shame. At the funeral, the butcher found a way to honor her and comfort herself. The boy (Nils Verkooijen) is portrayed strongly, but is also a bit terrifying throughout the film. Actually, the whole cast has something scary about them: the butcher’s wife (a beautiful role by Camilla Siegertsz) with her mysterious burns, butcher Koen (Richard Gonlag) in his cool demeanor; even the butcher’s customers (although we never quite see them) make you feel gloomy. The laughter and mockery when the butcher’s wife’s true hairstyle is revealed terrifies you as a viewer.

With the very surprising and original ending, the butcher seems to have served his revenge and got justice. The beautiful camera work regularly distracts from the tragic content of the film, which makes it more light-hearted, and also more beautiful. But here the beautiful goes hand in hand with the morbid and tragic. The serene images of the butcher’s garden contain this double charge: the geniality quickly turns into the ominous fact that the cute pigs there unknowingly go to their deaths. The detailed images of the butcher’s craft method are fascinating and, especially after the end, also take on a layering. Due to the strong camera work and ditto acting, the film is definitely worth watching, but brace yourself for a strange thinker at the end, which turns the film into a dark fairy tale.