The Eleven Cities ice skating race of 200 kilometers, edition 1963, has an infamous name in The Netherlands. So it should give enough inspiration for an exciting movie. I found the last minutes of this movie the most impressive: to see the real people, around whom the movie is centered. And the simple statement: "Of the 10,000 amateur skaters who took part in this race, only 69 managed to finish".
In its execution, however, this movie has some big problems. Some of these have already been mentioned in the other reviews. My biggest objection was this: in the movie two languages are spoken: Dutch and Frisian. One of the main characters - Sjoerd, played by Lourens van den Akker - is not a native Frisian speaker and you can hear it. It's really terrible for people who can speak or understand Frisian. It's distracting, to say the least. This spoiled a lot for me. All other Frisian speaking actors are native speakers: that's how it should be!
Question: how can Willeke van Ammelrooy play the mother of Chantal Janzen? What genius came up with that? On the other hand: I think Chris Zegers was cast properly, even though his hair was too long for 1963.
What is also good about the movie are the cameos. Look at the full cast at IMDb and spot the famous people: professional ice skaters, an ice skating coach, the winner of the Elfstedentocht of 1997.
Some scenes have been shot in Friesland, or look like they have been shot there, and some obviously have not been. Friesland does not have hills. Along the route are no woods. The weather was depicted as horrible, it's what we expect: legend has it, it was truly dreadful. The movie has some funny details as well, such as the smoking nurse in the hospital.
I have given this movie a 6/10: the fact that it's there is good. The cameos are good. The weather is good. Most Frisian actors speak well. All other things are not good. Some director: please do this one more time! But better please!
In its execution, however, this movie has some big problems. Some of these have already been mentioned in the other reviews. My biggest objection was this: in the movie two languages are spoken: Dutch and Frisian. One of the main characters - Sjoerd, played by Lourens van den Akker - is not a native Frisian speaker and you can hear it. It's really terrible for people who can speak or understand Frisian. It's distracting, to say the least. This spoiled a lot for me. All other Frisian speaking actors are native speakers: that's how it should be!
Question: how can Willeke van Ammelrooy play the mother of Chantal Janzen? What genius came up with that? On the other hand: I think Chris Zegers was cast properly, even though his hair was too long for 1963.
What is also good about the movie are the cameos. Look at the full cast at IMDb and spot the famous people: professional ice skaters, an ice skating coach, the winner of the Elfstedentocht of 1997.
Some scenes have been shot in Friesland, or look like they have been shot there, and some obviously have not been. Friesland does not have hills. Along the route are no woods. The weather was depicted as horrible, it's what we expect: legend has it, it was truly dreadful. The movie has some funny details as well, such as the smoking nurse in the hospital.
I have given this movie a 6/10: the fact that it's there is good. The cameos are good. The weather is good. Most Frisian actors speak well. All other things are not good. Some director: please do this one more time! But better please!