After seeing a production of My Fair Lady in the U.S., he was adamant about introducing the musical to a Dutch audience and had it translated by Seth Gaaikema. Wim Sonneveld became known in the 1940s and ’50s when he established himself as a brilliant actor, singer and cabaretist. Het wonderlijke leven van Willem Parel ( The Wonderful Life of Willem Parel) (1955) Let’s look through our picks for the best 40 films from the Netherlands to figure out why. So why is it that the people of Holland are so critical of their own films? Perhaps it’s because, like many other countries, the Netherlands have become spoiled by big, flashy Hollywood movies with lots of action and explosions or perhaps they feel like they’re still becoming comfortable with the medium. Rather baffling considering directors like Paul Verhoeven and Alex van Warmerdam have reached international acclaim with The Fourth Man or Borgman respectively. The Dutch people seem to be their own worst critics in fact, it seems as though their movies have become a running joke, all: Well, what did you expect? or It was pretty good for a Dutch movie. It’s not hard to criticize Dutch cinema-just use the Dutch themselves as examples.
