Cinema
Wan Pipel
Pim de la Parra · 1976
Synopsis
Roy Ferrol, a Surinamese economics student living in Amsterdam, is recalled by telegram to the bedside of his dying mother; his Dutch girlfriend, Karina, lends him the money for the ticket. In Paramaribo, he discovers the history of his parents and ancestors, and how poorly he knows his country, to which he becomes attached. He falls in love with Rubia, a Hindustani nurse, while his father, attached to tradition, prefers the white girlfriend from Amsterdam and the two communities look unfavourably on the relationship. Roy finds himself caught between two worlds.
Context
Written with Rudi Kross, on the advice of the writer Lou Lichtveld, and carried by Borger Breeveld, Diana Gangaram Panday and Willeke van Ammelrooy, the film mixes Dutch, Sarnami and Sranan. At a time when tensions between Creoles and Hindustanis were running high, the mixed couple it portrays provoked debate. Its overrun budget and disappointing box office in the Netherlands put an end to the production company, but it was an immense success in Suriname; restored by the Eye museum, it is shown on television every year for Independence Day.
Who it is for
For those who want to understand, through a love story, the fractures of a country born a few months earlier.
Prizes and reception
A box-office failure in the Netherlands and a triumph in Suriname, it has become the national classic that everyone has seen.