Details of: Alleman (The Human Dutch)

How do the Dutch people live? Hidden cameras filmed the crowds on the beach, during carnival time, skating on the ice plains.Bert Haanstra became Holland's leading filmmaker. His next feature, The Human Dutch, broke all previous records, even those set by The Brass Band. The Dutch flocked to the cinema that Christmas holiday in 1962 The Human Dutch paints a picture of the Dutch and pokes gentle fun at their peculiarities. As in Zoo, Haanstra and cameraman Anton van Munster filmed people as they unwittingly went about their business The basic idea was to show how people behave in specific situation or environment. But as people tend to be self-conscious in the presence of a camera, they concealed the camera in a huge shopping bag and hid their equipment in the shrubs. They built sheds with one way reflecting glass. In this film Haanstra observed the Dutch with compassion and wit and they emerged as people with a sense of sorrow and joy, religion and individualism and, above all, freedom. Widely acclaimed abroad, The Human Dutch won a Golden Bear at the film festival in Berlin. Although its success was clearly important to Haanstra personally, it also signified the growth of a steady team. Anton van Munster was Haanstra's cameraman. Anton Koolhaas worked on the scenarios and contributed advice and constructive criticism. The writer Simon Carmiggelt provided the text and additional commentary, which he wrote while Haanstra filmed. In this way a long and fruitful collaboration developed within the group.