Dood water

To view this video, you need to accept the YouTube/Vimeo cookies
click here

Summary

Social drama about the closing and drainage of the Zuiderzee.

Dood water opens with a prologue about the Netherlands' everlasting battle against the sea and the history of the Afsluitdijk ('enclosure dam'). It's accompanied by music played by the Amsterdam Concertgebouworkest led by conductor Willem Mengelberg. Then the little fishing village of Volendam comes into view. Its inhabitants are unhappy about the desalination of the former Zuiderzee. Fisherman Brak encourages his son to become a farmer, fisherman De Geus wants radical action against the Afsluitdijk while his helper Jaap recognises the opportunities that land reclamation brings. He becomes a civil servant, an act which makes him a traitor in the eyes of the villagers.

Gerard Rutten's film earned him a Golden Lion in Venice for best photography. After the war he would become a well-known director of films like Sterren stralen overal and Het wonderlijke leven van Willem Parel, with Wim Sonneveld.

Information

original title
Dood water
foreign release title
Aque morte
alternative title
Storm over den Afsluitdijk
production year
1934
censorship date
10-10-1934
release date
15-08-1934
country
Netherlands
geographical names
category
Fictional
keywords
director
original distributor
production company

Images

Cast

Actor

Crew

Technical notations

runtime
106 min / Archival print: 101
language
Dutch
original length
2885
censorship length
2885
sound
Sound
colour
Black & White
format
35mm
acts
9

Resources

K. Dittrich, Achter het doek: Duitse immigranten in de Nederlandse speelfilm in de jaren dertig, Houten (1987), p. 125

Centrale Commisie voor de Filmkeuring (Nationaal Archief; B1764)

more information

If you are looking for more material from our collection, please contact

Ms. Leenke Ripmeester
sales@eyefilm.nl
phone +31 (0)20 5891 426
mobile +31 (0)6 4118 9635