FILM Moscow Belgium (2008) Christophe Van Rompaey

Moscow Belgium (2008)


Directed by Christophe Van Rompaey


wiki:Moscow, Belgium


Reviews:


Rotten Tomatoes – Aanrijding in Moscou (Moscow, Belgium) (2008)
Including a short one from Roger Ebert, 7 January 2009


‘Moscow, Belgium’ stars Barbara Sarafian


A Realistic Romance in ‘Moscow’ – John Anderson Washington Post, 29 May 2009
– says its in Dutch and Flemish


It is a very watchable film – Sarafian did a great job – but was as intrigued by the language as anything else. It started out as a prejudice – that Flemish was not a very attractive sounding language – then the realisation that it sounded very Dutch with a few odd French words phrases thrown in.

Moscow, Belgium (Dutch Trailer with English Subs)

The Flemish/ French issue is so profound a government recently fell over it.

Neon (Nederlands online) seems to be a good place to get background.

This article from 2008 by Bruno Waterfield, Telegraph Brussels correspondent, The Problem with Belgium, (suggesting as it does many of the old jokes about the country….seen from another country) shows how language divides Belgians.

My question is whether Belgian films like Moscow, Belgium reflect these differences, or that they play to international audiences and keep ethno-lingusitic issues out. There might be a hint, with lawyer boyfriend of Johnnie’s wife saying bon jour with a Flemish accent at the end of a stream of Flemish in the confrontation at the end of the film.

Belgium: society, character and culture — An essay on the Belgian identity

Director Christophe van Rompaey at the CPH:PIX Copenhagen Film Festival explains the film was meant to be local, filmed in Ghent, and used a local dialect. And that he felt it important that all the characters were speaking the same dialect. In this interview at CPH:PX a member of the audience says that Belgians “have to go to Internatational festivals to see films from the other community.”


Flemish vs Dutch – Differences
A comment in this forum (message 3) gives some interesting facts about Flemish.