Though I realize how low the bar is set, the prospect of seeing a Dutch film helmed by a promising director that plays outside the realm of atrocious romcoms made for 40+ year olds is an exciting but frustratingly rare one. Even rarer is when that film doesn't end up a derivative mess of obvious inspirations and even imitations, and that, I'm afraid, Sweet Dreams doesn't quite manage to dodge. What will be apparent from the word go is the 'artsy' compositions, that is, exact blocking in 4:3, mostly static frames where subjects are usually either linear or perpendicular to the camera - in short, pseudo-Wes Anderson. It's a sign of what I figured was going to happen sooner or later, upcoming directors who were clearly touched by modern arthouse productions kind of regurgitating the same visual ideas. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, the decisive factor is moreso if what these ideas are applied onto actually gel with them. Wes Anderson's idiosyncratic approach to his camerawork complements the overall theatrical nature of his films; here, this only serves to make the whole thing feel, as I said earlier, 'artsy' (a word that I've grown to severely dislike, but I struggle to find the right replacement), but in a way where it makes the whole thing feel slightly off, like in a dream - which you could point out conforms to the title, however, I don't think I buy into its intentionality, especially consider how the ending does delve into the abstract and symbolic, embracing its own peculiarity (though, sadly, it was too little too late for me). I do want to emphasize that the film does, in fact, look nice, arguably defeating the whole point of me rambling on about that particular aspect. Preferably though, I like to see a director not just stick to what has proven to work, but expand on their own visual 'library', if that makes sense.
In the narrative department, Sweet Dreams proves to be more intriguing. It explores one of the darkest pages in Dutch history: our colonization in Indonesia. It regularly pokes fun at the white oppressors, in this case the capitalists at the top of a sugar plantation who exploit the natives. One of the victims of this is concubine Siti, who is practically the main character of this tale. She occupies a similar position as Samuel L. Jackson in Django Unchained, trying to get some benefit out of her rulers. In doing this, though, it contributes to an already lacking sense of true oppression. Not asking for 12 Years A Slave here (which wouldn't work with the subdued nature of the presentation), but outside of a few scenes, this fails to truly interrogate the abuses.
-Spoilers below-
For instance, there is a near explicit mention of the White Man's Burden, yet no further development of it, even though the story lends itself perfectly to not only showing the absurdity, but the hypocrisy of that idea - 'saving' and 'educating' suppposedly savage natives by completely removing and ignoring any sense of their human rights. Cornelis nearly commits infanticide to be able to claim an inheritance, after which he retracts the plan, stating it's "not civilized". Even though his wife then disagrees with him, that angle is lost.
There are more such of examples of the story being ripe for such observations yet those fruits never being reaped, but what I'm more concerned with is how much Siti is underscored. As I said, she plays in a morally grey area, one which could provide interesting perspectives, but she is the only proper native character. Raza is another, but he is merely there to challenge Siti and thus hardly serves any function on his own. Ultimately, the Indonesians barely get a voice in this. It's all about the troubles of the white folks on top and a single concubine that managed to earn some relatively decent spot in the hierarchy. It is true that the Dutch had a type of feudal system in place, where some natives were appointed to rule, but that is not what is discussed here. In that regard, this is similar to Killers of the Flower Moon, where I also wished for more insight into the oppressed group, but luckily that was not as absent as it was here.
In any case, this stands head and shoulders above the gross of Dutch film productions, having an actual voice behind it and being one of the few to actually be succesful in its comedic efforts. However, like 2020's The Forgotten Battle I feel this wouldn't be praised as much as it is if it wasn't judged on that relative basis. Not that there aren't plenty of things like and/or appreciate, but I'm going to need a bit more convincing before I can consider this sorry industry to be on the path to salvation.
In the narrative department, Sweet Dreams proves to be more intriguing. It explores one of the darkest pages in Dutch history: our colonization in Indonesia. It regularly pokes fun at the white oppressors, in this case the capitalists at the top of a sugar plantation who exploit the natives. One of the victims of this is concubine Siti, who is practically the main character of this tale. She occupies a similar position as Samuel L. Jackson in Django Unchained, trying to get some benefit out of her rulers. In doing this, though, it contributes to an already lacking sense of true oppression. Not asking for 12 Years A Slave here (which wouldn't work with the subdued nature of the presentation), but outside of a few scenes, this fails to truly interrogate the abuses.
-Spoilers below-
For instance, there is a near explicit mention of the White Man's Burden, yet no further development of it, even though the story lends itself perfectly to not only showing the absurdity, but the hypocrisy of that idea - 'saving' and 'educating' suppposedly savage natives by completely removing and ignoring any sense of their human rights. Cornelis nearly commits infanticide to be able to claim an inheritance, after which he retracts the plan, stating it's "not civilized". Even though his wife then disagrees with him, that angle is lost.
There are more such of examples of the story being ripe for such observations yet those fruits never being reaped, but what I'm more concerned with is how much Siti is underscored. As I said, she plays in a morally grey area, one which could provide interesting perspectives, but she is the only proper native character. Raza is another, but he is merely there to challenge Siti and thus hardly serves any function on his own. Ultimately, the Indonesians barely get a voice in this. It's all about the troubles of the white folks on top and a single concubine that managed to earn some relatively decent spot in the hierarchy. It is true that the Dutch had a type of feudal system in place, where some natives were appointed to rule, but that is not what is discussed here. In that regard, this is similar to Killers of the Flower Moon, where I also wished for more insight into the oppressed group, but luckily that was not as absent as it was here.
In any case, this stands head and shoulders above the gross of Dutch film productions, having an actual voice behind it and being one of the few to actually be succesful in its comedic efforts. However, like 2020's The Forgotten Battle I feel this wouldn't be praised as much as it is if it wasn't judged on that relative basis. Not that there aren't plenty of things like and/or appreciate, but I'm going to need a bit more convincing before I can consider this sorry industry to be on the path to salvation.