All Souls: Stories on the Edge of Murder (2005, Dutch)

The Dutch film All Souls is not a conventional narrative, but rather a compilation of sixteen short films on one subject. That subject is Theo van Gogh – in particular, his 2004 murder at the hands of Mohammed Bouyeri, a Muslim fundamentalist. Van Gogh was a controversial figure in Dutch society, known perhaps as much for his polemical writing and public words as for his controversial films. The films, particularly Submission, a short that ostensibly deals with violence against women in Muslim society, were seen as the motivation for Bouyeri’s actions, though van Gogh wrote a great deal in his last years about his anti-Muslim sentiments, and actively supported politicians with anti-immigration platforms – these were themes that connected all of his creative activities. Van Gogh’s murder spurred anti-Muslim violence and police action in the Netherlands, and the country is still reeling from the discovery that it may not be as liberal and tolerant as it once believed itself to be.

Working from this background, the films in All Souls do little to add thoughtful critique to the life and legacy of Theo van Gogh. To begin with, there are simply too many pieces here – with sixteen films packed into a 90-minute running time, few are able to sustain any thematic depth. Further complicating this problem is the quality of the films themselves. Most feature little more than cursory investigations into issues surrounding van Gogh, and many are simply baffling as to their intent. For example, Betsy is executed in classic horror-film style – an old farmer wakes in the middle of the night to discover that his goat is missing. He follows the animal’s trail into what seems to be a morgue (shaky camera, haunting music, and all), and finally finds “Betsy” in a room that looks set for a dinner party – there is soft music, a bottle of wine, and a photograph of Theo van Gogh. Is this meant to be a satirical critique of van Gogh’s famous fondness for calling Muslims “goat-fuckers?” There’s no way to tell within the short frame and clunky style of this piece. If it is meant as satire, the tactic of turning such a cruel and pointless barb back at the man who spoke it is little more than grade-school retaliation.

Even those films that can boast a bit more gloss and professionalism, such as 72 Virgins, are often baffling, at best. Virgins follows the recently dead van Gogh (an exaggerated scimitar stuck in his gut) as he moves through a mundane afterlife bureaucracy. Upon discovering that the price to pay for heaven is the erasure of his individual personality, van Gogh chooses to re-enter the world as a ghost. In Virgins, the filmmakers seem to be holding van Gogh up as a symbol of free speech and individual choice, but that message doesn’t quite mesh with the film’s satiric take on some of the man’s personal views. Furthermore, it is incredibly narrow view to take, one that does not seem to give anything of value back to the subject, and could indeed serve to as a continuing irritant to Dutch-Muslim relations.

Other films, like Stabat Mater and Goodbye, are simply incomprehensible, and look more like film student projects than professional cinema. There is also an obsession with news media that runs through several films, including Nightwatch and Cloud of Dust, but the fictionalization of news media in pieces like Cloud call the veracity of others, such as 2/11, in which we are supposedly listening to van Gogh’s friends describe their feelings and memories of the day he died, into question. (The title of the latter piece, an obvious reference to 9/11, is a questionable touch in an otherwise respectful, and somewhat saddening, film. If the piece dealt with the murder's fallout within Dutch society, and not the man himself, perhaps this choice would have hit closer to the mark.) On the whole, All Souls is a badly curated grab-bag of films about an important subject. Someone should make a film about Theo van Gogh and his impact on Dutch life, but please, don’t give any of these nascent auteurs the job.