Wallonywood! Eldorado

I started my summer interest in Wallonia, by going to a Walloon movie which won some prices in Cannes and which is a big hit in the french speaking part of Belgium. It's such a suprise hit that they decided to show it in Flanders too. And I went to see it in Antwerp.

Now, the succesful Walloon movies almost always get shown in the arthouse cinemas in Flanders. The succesful Flemish movies hardly ever get a release in French speaking Belgium. I really don't get that. How the french speaking people can call us racist and all, realizing very well that we have much more interest in their culture than they have in ours. A really good Flemish thriller like De Zaak Alzheimer finally made it to the cinema's in downtown Brussels, but nobody went to see it!

Anyways, I don't really think that this new hyped movie, called Eldorado, will draw that many Flemish moviegoers either as it's, well, not that good really. I don't get all the rave reviews. Sure, it's a different movie. There are some fun moments, some big surprises and it has a good soundtrack. Bouli Lanners, who also directed the movie, is excellent in the main role, since he's able to make the audience believe that the actions of the main character are plausible. The rest of the cast sucks. In a way, it's not a bad movie, it had me entertained for 80 minutes. But the story is just full of shit. Some of the dialogues are, though effective, extremely simple. And the image you get from Wallonia is again so depressing. My God, why can't they show a NICE side of the area. The forests are so beautiful up there, yet in every movie I see from Wallonia, the forest represents some kind of darkness in the movie characters' life.

This movie deals about a lonely dealer in American cars who befriends an (ex) junkie who tried to steal some money in his house. They go on a road trip and discuss 'life'. I guess an alternative Flemish movie maker could have made a similar movie situated in Flanders, but I did feel like I was watching a movie from a different country. However, the junkie's mother reminded me very much of the bassist's mother in Ex-Drummer. In that way, low life trash can live in both parts of the country.

Let's just say, that the movie didn't really excite me about getting to know the Walloons better.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wy7RosBDa0