Voorland

The landscape in which we live has been around longer than we have. And it will still be there after our death. Not that the landscape always remains the same: every generation wipes out the traces of previous generations, and itself leaves new traces behind. This process has been followed for seven years with great detail, craftsmanship and without misplaced nostalgia on Super16 by Eugenie Jansen and Albert Elings. On the banks of the Netherrhine River, between the dike and the river itself, is a stretch of water meadow, Loowaard. In the derelict farmstead lives the last farmer who had cows here, there are remains of a brick factory that no longer has a function, and in the ground, remains have been found of an old Roman encampment. Until recently, the march of progress apparently had left this piece of land untouched. But now the meadows have to make way for the development of new nature. The factory is being demolished and a railway tunnel is going to be dug underground for the new Betuwe Line. People appear in white moon suits, with orange jackets, and half-naked kids stretch ropes in trees. In the meantime, the river – with its own rhythm of high water and low water – flows slowly past, as it always did. In this poetic portrait with pictures like moving paintings, all human actions look transient. The film makers paid a lot of attention to the beautiful soundtrack as well as to the images. The result is pure cinema. (SdH)