BOEFJE

Netherlands, 1939, 88 minutes, Black and white.
Annie van Ees, Albert Van Dalsum, Guus Brox.
Directed by Detlef Sierck

Boefje is a nickname for a 12-year-old boy, Jan, who lives at home, with his scolding mother, a father whom he claims beats him, and three younger sisters. He befriends a young lad, Pietje, with whom he gets into all kinds of trouble around the city and the waterfront, going to a local fair and seeing the acts, he and Pietje go on to the merry-go-round and collect money from the riders. However, when children are stoning a cat, he dives into the water to save the cat.

Boefje is played by the actress who had played the boy on stage since 1923 - and was 45 at the time of filming!

There is fine location photography bringing the city, the canals and the waterfront vividly to life along with Dutch society – all to be changed in a year with the Nazi invasion of Holland.

When he and Pietje are stealing goods in the street, they are observed by a character who is called The Pastor. He is seen dressed clerically, can be strict and critical of the children, seems to be always smoking cigars, a Dutch custom, and is rousing on the children. However, he takes an interest in Boefje, trying to teach him some manners, sending him to a boarding school, and eventually sending him to an institution which seems to be run by religious brothers. While there is little to differentiate the denomination of the Pastor in his home, there are scenes in a church which have a great deal of Catholic iconography and statues, a vast organ, and, in the institution, crucifixes and other emblems.

Whether this was the intention of the screenwriter and the director, this seems to be a common denominator of Catholicism in the presentation of the Pastor and, especially, of the brothers with their habits, cinctures, crucifixes, rosary beads, and their hats. In fact, a great deal of attention is given to these brothers, their administration of the institution, their classes, working in the fields with the children, the organist and his friendship with Boefje, the atmosphere of a Catholic institution of the period.

Pietje continues to get into trouble, difficulties with the Pastor’s cook, Boefje setting curtains on fire, quite a number of cranky adults. However, Boefje has to make a choice, is seen at school trying to read, becomes very friendly with the Brother playing the organ and his explanations – eventually Boefje returning to the institution with the guidance of the Pastor, with other officials, and Pietje facing his day in court. Boefje returns to the organ and the final focus is the contemplation of a statue of Mary.

There is a lot of talk about going to the United States, Boefje and Pietje are trying to get money, the Pastor showing them maps, a lot of imagining what it would be like to be in America. Actually, something of this was fulfilled when the director, Detlef Sierck, German director with success in his native Germany, made this film in Holland and he and his wife, at its completion, set sail for the United States where he changed his name to Douglas Sirk, made quite a number of interesting films (including in 1951 The First Legion, a very Catholic film about the Jesuits and Thunder on the Hill about nuns) and won some acclaim in the middle to late 1950s with his lush romantic dramas including Magnificent Obsession, All that Heaven Allows, Imitation of Life.