Pallieter

Summary

Pallieter lives together with his girlfriend in a stifling occult atmosphere which drives her to suicide. From this moment on, Pallieter becomes an acolyte of nature, renouncing everything connected with his past and embracing life with a childlike enthusiasm. He reacts strongly to technological progress and the environmenntal decay which accompanies it.

One fine day an aeroplane lands near his house and, in a sort of vision of the future, he sees the fields and woods transform into an industrial landscape. With this ending - including aerial footage of Antwerp industry - the film gives a simplified view of advancing industrialization. By way of contrast it sets up a mythological concept of nature, represented as tradition demands by mooing cows amidst lush pastures.

With Pallieter, Roland Verhavert once again gleefully adapted another popular classic of Flemish literature at the request of producer Jan van Raemdonck. The obvious question arose - why dust off for yet another outting this Felix Timmermans novel? Pallieter has passed into legend as a true bon viveur, and the experiences of this idyllic pleasure-seeker would offer little scope for a contemporary film. Possibly aware of this shortcoming, the authors, led by scriptwriter Hugo Claus, gave Pallieter a modern twist. Thus the film develops from a real turn-of-the-century rural tale, complete with the stock period accessories (feasting, drinking), to a sort of well-meaning ecological fable with contemporary themes.