Alleman

(1963) - In the major cinema documentary Alleman, Bert Haanstra paints a picture of the Netherlands and the Dutch in his own inimitable way. Partly with the help of the hidden camera, he observes people in the most diverse situations. In this way he shows the unusual in the ordinary and the ordinary in the unusual. The difficult years of post-war reconstruction are over and most people are doing better than before. Alleman therefore expresses a certain satisfaction. Haanstra sees a world in which the positive prevails. Of course, people also have their shortcomings and their idiosyncrasies, but there is not much harm in the director's compatriots.
The scene with the boy on wooden skates, who keeps falling and only remains upright after much practice, became a favorite of the audience. Another scene that generated a lot of enthusiasm is that of a winking Queen Juliana. The images of the very chaste Dutch on the beach of Scheveningen make it clear that a lot has changed in our country since then. And many spectators at the time wanted to know whether it was still on between the lovers who had been spied on during an altercation on a bench in Amsterdam's Oosterpark. It was out.
Simon Carmiggelt wrote and commented for Alleman. He viewed humanity about the same as Haanstra, and the audience recognized themselves in their vision: 1.6 million Dutch people went to the cinema for it. The film was awarded a Golden Bear in Berlin and received an Oscar nomination under the title The Human Dutch in Los Angeles.