The Domino Effect (2012)

Directed by: Paula van der Oest | 98 minutes | drama | Actors: Jelka van Houten, Bracha van Doesburgh, Theo Maassen, Robert de Hoog, James D’Arcy, David Hayman, Harriet Walters, Nathaniel Parker, Miguel Gomez, Sarah Jones, Sakina Jaffrey, Tiya Sircar, Manish Dayal, Urmie Plein, Sep Schouwenaar, Ad van Kempen, Xu Linshu, Yang Gang, Chu Xingyi, Indranel Bhattacharya, Priyamvada Sawant, Danish Ansan, Wendy Mvinjelwa, Ayabulela Stevens

Who would have ever thought it would come to this? Years after it started, the credit crisis is not only still affecting the population, but has turned into a massive global crisis with no end in sight. One of the few who has no problem with this is probably director Paula van der Oest. Three years ago she started filming ‘The Domino Effect’, which portrays the influences of this tumultuous crisis on ordinary citizens. The fact that the theme has become even more topical over the years is of course purely positive for Van der Oest. ‘The Domino Effect’ is a mosaic film set around the world, reminiscent of films such as ‘Babel’ (2006) in both form and content.

The focus is on different people and families in different locations. We see a rich London businessman, an American pie baker with a much too spoiled daughter and a poor Indian who does everything to get the girl of his dreams. No matter how different the settings and people are, they eventually come into contact with each other in one way or another. Gradually they all start to notice the crisis, some more intense than others, and they also influence each other. For example, Indian Rahul (Neal Bhattacharya) is responsible for someone else’s bankruptcy. This is because he is not getting his promised money from someone who is also experiencing financial loss, and so on. The mounting economic problems therefore create a domino effect between people who apparently have nothing to do with each other.

‘The Domino Effect’ shows the consequences of a disaster in a very visual and moving way. The most distressing thing is that the people involved are usually not guilty of their situation and cannot change it. Many viewers can probably identify with this. The film takes individual experiences to a more general and higher level, making the audience aware of how diffusely the crisis has spread, that it really affects every layer of the population. That everything has fallen into disrepair is also apparent from some visual metaphors, such as when cake baker Serena (Sakina Jaffrey) even breaks her heel at a crucial moment. In this way Van der Oest conveys a political consciousness and morality, something that can be put to good use in these times.

With ‘The Domino Effect’, Van der Oest presents a film that is simultaneously moving, exciting, depressing but also heartwarming, and puts the viewer on the ground for a moment. Thanks to the active film style and the presence of mainly foreign settings and actors, the film feels very un-Dutch, an aspect that contributes to the global and global character of the subject. Together with the believable acting, all this makes ‘The Domino Effect’ a very impressive film, which we will hopefully see around the world.