For the vast majority of his countrymen, the arrival of World War II and the subsequent occupation of the Netherlands was a catastrophe, but for Bernardus "Dries" Riphagen it represented an opportunity. The former pimp and gang boss now works for the Nazis, betraying both Jews and resistance fighters. This pays good money, but he has found yet another way to line his pockets : he tricks Jews into believing he's helping them, before betraying them anyway. All of this means a steady trickle of cash, jewels, deeds to real estate. Still, how long will the war last ? And who will win ?
"Riphagen" is based on the life and times of an actual gangster. Being neither a Dutchwoman nor a historian I'm unable to judge the fidelity of the fictional version, but I would guess at a high degree of accuracy. This is because the story being told is full of the same unhappy decisions, short-sighted policies and muddled despair as seen in real life. Here you get a Dutch resistance movement riven by ideological division, prone to human error and forced into all kinds of unnatural deals and compromises. It's not a happy picture, but probably a truthful one. It is this chaotic background which allowed the real-life Riphagen to thrive and survive all through the war : as a canny, intelligent man he knew how to exploit his opponents' quarrels and mistakes.
By the way, do not expect the movie to end on a note of poetical justice. In the movie, as in real life, Riphagen escapes both imprisonment and execution. He emigrates to South-America, in order to exploit and torment yet more innocents.
"Riphagen" is a good, suspenseful movie, full of convincing 1940's period detail. Jeroen van Koningsbrugge gives an eerily realistic lead performance. His Riphagen, made up from equal parts brutality, cunning and malice, is a memorable character.
The wife of Riphagen too represents a particularly obnoxious enabler : the kind of woman who marries a known law-breaker, who benefits from his crimes, and who tells everyone that her husband is a kind, sweet soul with a heart of gold. Why do people keep on bothering him with accusations of theft, torture, murder ? Johnny can't be a criminal : he never forgets a birthday and he is polite to his mother-in-law. AND he reads the children bedtime stories about Nibbles the Rabbit, so there !
In a just world these women too would get thirty to life, but our societies are strangely respectful of this kind of stand-by-your-man perversity...
"Riphagen" is based on the life and times of an actual gangster. Being neither a Dutchwoman nor a historian I'm unable to judge the fidelity of the fictional version, but I would guess at a high degree of accuracy. This is because the story being told is full of the same unhappy decisions, short-sighted policies and muddled despair as seen in real life. Here you get a Dutch resistance movement riven by ideological division, prone to human error and forced into all kinds of unnatural deals and compromises. It's not a happy picture, but probably a truthful one. It is this chaotic background which allowed the real-life Riphagen to thrive and survive all through the war : as a canny, intelligent man he knew how to exploit his opponents' quarrels and mistakes.
By the way, do not expect the movie to end on a note of poetical justice. In the movie, as in real life, Riphagen escapes both imprisonment and execution. He emigrates to South-America, in order to exploit and torment yet more innocents.
"Riphagen" is a good, suspenseful movie, full of convincing 1940's period detail. Jeroen van Koningsbrugge gives an eerily realistic lead performance. His Riphagen, made up from equal parts brutality, cunning and malice, is a memorable character.
The wife of Riphagen too represents a particularly obnoxious enabler : the kind of woman who marries a known law-breaker, who benefits from his crimes, and who tells everyone that her husband is a kind, sweet soul with a heart of gold. Why do people keep on bothering him with accusations of theft, torture, murder ? Johnny can't be a criminal : he never forgets a birthday and he is polite to his mother-in-law. AND he reads the children bedtime stories about Nibbles the Rabbit, so there !
In a just world these women too would get thirty to life, but our societies are strangely respectful of this kind of stand-by-your-man perversity...