The Truth (2021)

Directed by: Pieter Fleury | 93 minutes | documentary | With: Jan Mans, Rudi Bakker, Roelof Jan Manschot, Nico ten Bosch, André de Vries, Willie Pater, Paul van Buitenen, Joan de Wijkerslooth de Weerdesteijn, Klaas de Vries, Frits Pril, Onno van Veldhuizen, Bram Distel

A sunny Saturday, May 13, 2000, the day before Mother’s Day. In Enschede, the fire brigade comes out in the afternoon for a fire on the site of SE Fireworks in the residential area of ​​Roombeek. Video images show that the fire is attracting a lot of attention. The large, light gray clouds of smoke spread above the roofs of the houses. Then suddenly: a series of huge explosions. 23 people were killed, including four firefighters, and many hundreds were injured. Much of the area is destroyed.

In the 2021 documentary ‘The truth’ by Pieter Fleury, a number of those involved from that time are interviewed. They are all older men who look back on what happened at the time and what their own role was in it. In the beginning it is mainly factual: what happened? How did the person in question act at the time? But gradually Fleury digs deeper and a number of those involved reflect on their actions and functioning. It leads to probing and confrontational conversations – could the disaster have been prevented with stricter licensing and control? And shouldn’t the government have been prosecuted as well?

The men who speak are filmed in black and white. The images of the disaster and its aftermath are in color. Most of the men interviewed were involved in the disaster from a professional role, such as municipal officials Rolf Oldejans (legal affairs) and Nico ten Bosch (environment), but the disaster certainly also has many consequences for their personal lives. Martin Slot speaks of the residents of the district. He is on holiday in Bali, hears the first details through his brother and decides to fly back. While transferring at Jakarta airport, he sees on the front page of Het Parool that his house has disappeared. He only recognizes his street by a gate. Fireworks dealer Rudi Bakker was co-owner of SE Fireworks at the time, and was later convicted of violating environmental regulations. He has been fighting for reparation all these years. With him, the frustration, anger, sadness and bitterness are close to the surface. His cousin Jan Bakker works for the fire brigade, but does not know that fireworks were stored on the site. He thinks it was a scrap paper business. Jan Mans, then mayor of Enschede and Klaas de Vries, then minister of the Interior, also have their say. Both PvdA directors who had a ‘good working relationship’, as Mans sparingly remarks, but who in retrospect appear to have very different views on the question of guilt and responsibility. Marten Oosting is leading the investigation into the disaster and Roelof Jan Manschot is involved in a possible criminal case as Chief Public Prosecutor. In the retrospectives of the gentlemen, the emotions have understandably not disappeared even twenty years later. Ten Bosch and Rudi Bakker in particular struggle in different ways from their own roles with questions that they cannot answer.

The documentary does not provide a broad overview of all events and, for example, does not zoom in on all theories surrounding the origin of the fire and never clarified circumstances in the firefighting and aftermath. Not a word about possible arson, possibly stored land mines or other stories and suspicions circulating. About the aftermath. Who is responsible if things go wrong? It is very Dutch to designate “perpetrators” and “guilty persons”. Everyone involved has thoughts about who is to blame. Pointing to others. At first sight, Rudi Bakker may seem like an obvious “perpetrator” to those who are guilty. It’s his storage, his fireworks, he’s a co-owner. It is impossible in the documentary to completely peel off Bakker’s actions, but it is clear that the question of guilt and responsibility is not as simple as it seems. Because what if at different times different authorities and persons may not have reacted sharply enough? Or if procedures have perhaps been followed, but the right questions have not been asked? Why, for example, has nothing happened with the report about a first explosion in Culemborg, in 1991? And why was there even a fireworks storage in a residential area? That it has grown historically from the textile city that Enschede used to be, yes, that’s fine. But the follow-up questions it raises have apparently never been asked.

Fleury frames the events surrounding the permits and the role of various authorities: the municipality and the central government. Former chief officer Manschot thinks afterwards that the government can be blamed for something criminal. At the time, he was convinced by the chairman of the Board of Prosecutors General that criminal prosecution of, for example, the municipality probably has no chance because of the so-called Pikmeer judgments of the Supreme Court. There is clearly something gnawing at the sense of justice here. The tug-of-war between Mans and De Vries also does not show them both from their best side. Why did the mayor stay in office? Because the city council gave him confidence, Mans’s firm answer is. But isn’t that also a form of pointing to another? The resignation of VVD alderman Koopmans is briefly discussed in the documentary. That of her colleague alderman Buursink (PvdA) before that – while he also criticized Mans’s role. De Vries rejects his own responsibility as a minister. According to him, many ‘foolish things’ are said about ministerial responsibility. Shouldn’t the ministry have intervened after the disaster in Culemborg (2 deaths, a lot of damage to houses in the area) around the storage of explosive material near homes?

With ‘The Truth’ Pieter Fleury makes viewers think whether we have arranged things as well in the Netherlands as we often think we have arranged them. A subject that is always topical, but also regularly in the news, when abuses arise, legal rules are not always justified and existing rules are not always enforced.