Ieder van ons

Summary

The socially conscious documentary filmmaker Frans Buyens had always wanted to try his hand at making a fiction film, and the experimental Ieder van ons was his first step in that direction.

More specifically, it was a cinéma-vérité investigation of reality and illusion in social consciousness. Buyens' intention was to appeal to the viewer's conscience and rouse him or her to the necessary acknowledgement of social reality and appropriate action. The 'Flemish Joris Ivens' used fictional plot-lines and documentary excerpts to structure his film.

Some of the scenes are dramatised, telling of the increasing social awareness of an unscrupulous political figure, while in others Buyens himself appears before the camera to introduce the actors, the characters they play and the situations to be portrayed. Over the course of the film, the inconsistencies in the behaviour and arguments of all protagonists become apparent.

Buyens uses this fact to demonstrate that each of us is rift by internal conflicts papered over with fallacious arguments, which we invoke in our attempts to justify ourselves. This is made particularly clear in one scene showing a meeting between the actor-characters and some Belgian and foreign friends.

The camera records the ensuing discussion of world reform, revolution, pacifism and society on the spot. This engaging and well-argumented manifesto - a philosophical battle of words which deals mercilessly with modern consumer society - was premiered in the auditorium of the State University Centre in Antwerp a few days after Buyens' previous film Open dialogue.