SINT/SAINT
Holland, 2010, 88 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Dick Maas.
Saint/ Sint is a 21st century horror film by Dutch director, Dick Maas. Maas had a long career in making dramas and popular horror films, e.g. The Lift.
He has taken the age-old legend of Saint Nicholas, the kindly bishop in Turkey who gave gifts to children. This was the religious origin of the popular Santa Claus tale. However, his writers have invented a fictitious heretic bishop of the 15th century, ruthless in his greed, ravaging townships, exploiting people, kidnapping children, a kind of terrorist pirate. This is shown in a prologue, set in 1492.
There is an interlude in 1968, a 20th century family, the appearance of Nicholas and his cutthroats, the band looking like the pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean? They destroy a family, with one son surviving who grows up to be a policeman.
The film is then set in the 21st century, Amsterdam, young people and their permissive way of life, Amsterdam.The mayor and the police are alert as the rising of the moon situation indicates the possible re-visit of Nicholas. Of course, this happens, the policeman going out on on his own to confront Nicholas, with the help of the young man who survives.
There is a kind of permissive coarseness underlying the behavior of the young people. But, overall, this is an oddball imagining of a religious tradition and turning it into a horror film.
1. The director and his tradition of Dutch horror films? A 21st century horror adaptation?
2. Saint Nicholas and the traditions about the saint, his love for children, the gifts, the regions of Santa Claus? The variation on this theme with the renegade bishop, Nicholas?
3. The prologue, 1492? The flavor of the era? The bishop, his henchmen, his ruthlessness and cruelty? The pursuit of the children? Capturing? The persecution of the townspeople? Their reaction? Banding together? Pursuit of Nicholas and his associates? Destroying the ruthless mercenaries? The bishop and his followers as living dead? Decisions for revenge?
4. The special effects for Saint Nicholas and his henchmen, the lavish look of the 15th century, the contrast with the Pirates of the Caribbean look of the survivors?
5. The portrait of mayhem, the village, the people and their revolt?
6. Amsterdam, 1968, the portrait of the family, the ordinary life, December 5, but the position of the moon, Nicholas and his henchmen, arrival, destruction of the family, the survival of the boy?
7. 21st century, the boy having become a policeman, his eccentricities?
8. The young people, at school, permissive of lifestyle, sex talk, the setting up of victims for San Nicolas?
9. The young people and their relationships, secrets, betrayals?
10. The date, the moon, Nicholas and anticipation of his coming, arrival, action, with the children, killing the girl, the brutality of the henchmen, Nicholas and his riding over the roofs of Amsterdam?
11. The police, the men, decisions, suspicions of the eccentric policeman, his trying to warn them?
12. The action sequences, the young man, his survival, with the policeman, the chase? The escape, the boat?
13. The setup, the explosion, the death of the policeman, the survival of the boy?
14. The boy in hospital, his girlfriend coming to see him? But the anticipation of Nicholas is return?
