Theo van Gogh - Uitgesproken: 06/05

On 3 November, Eye is screening three films by Theo van Gogh: 06 (1994) with new live music by Rainer Hensel, Van Gogh’s regular composer, as well as his controversial first film Luger (1981) and the posthumously released film 06/05 (2004), about the murder of politician Pim Fortuyn.

In his biography De bolle Gogh published this year (and winner of the Louis Hartlooper Award for Best Film Publication 2024), Cohen paints a layered picture of Van Gogh as a passionate filmmaker and writer, a brilliant interviewer and champion of free speech.

Van Gogh – a manic polemist who believed that it must be possible to say 'anything' and that the rules of propriety did not apply – didn’t hold back, using any and every stylistic tool in the box to take down opponents. Free speech could be defended with humour, with elegance and cutting style – but also at the boundary of bad taste, and sometimes far beyond.

Supporters

Van Gogh’s progress through the filmmaking Netherlands and his controversial role in opposing fundamentalist Islamic ideology brought the former student from Wassenaar who dropped out of his law studies hordes of supporters, and just as many opponents. On 2 November 2014, his freely expressed opinions brought about his demise. Fundamentalist Mohammed B. murdered Van Gogh in broad daylight, sending shockwaves through the country.

Premeditated plan

The posthumously released feature film 06/05 –based on the book by Tomas Ross about the murder of flamboyant politician Pim Fortuyn (6 May 2002), founder of the LPF political party – sets out Van Gogh’s assumptions about what happened; fascinated by the political bungling that followed the successful assassination of Fortuyn, Van Gogh suggests that this was underpinned by a premeditated plan. The director was himself murdered before he could finish the film.

06/05 premiered simultaneously in cinemas and on the internet. According to newspaper de Volkskrant, the film is one of Van Gogh’s best: “The actors are superbly in form, the music by regular composer Rainer Hensel is subtle, and Thomas Kist’s digital camerawork is easy on the eye.” Film magazine De Filmkrant called 06/05 an “urgent film” that brings together all of Van Gogh’s personalities: “the political commentator, the loudmouthed columnist on a mission, the troublemaker, and above all the humanist with an exceptionally raw, open-hearted view of human nature.”