Rob Broekhof This movie is the first ever that I have rated a well deserved one out of ten. The only reason to watch this movie is when you have an extreme need to belong to the elite and are bored with your life beyond total depression. I finalize my review in eight more lines and in accordance with how I feel about this movie. So first a minor change to get to the fourth line and I will combine it with another minor change to get introduced to the fifth line. The fifth line contains no more than the other lines before. This is line six which follows line five. Line seven makes me wonder whether I need to get to eleven because it still says that my review is not ready for submission. Again I'll make another minor change with line eight. With line nine you're right about ready to finish reading this review. Finally line ten, which is very similar to the end of the movie.

cheezburgerz "...and they descended upon the earth to strengthen their ranks." -opening quote, BorgmanCamiel Borgman is a greater demon of hell. His supposed name is actually his title; his real name is given at the beginning of the movie "Anton Breskens" which is believed to be a lie in an attempt to gain admittance to the house. His real name will be important later. The etymology of 'Camiel' is 'acolyte' and 'Borgman' is 'a man who takes toll/a landlord'. So his title is 'Acolyte Landlord' which means he's collecting tolls, or souls, for another (i.e. Satan). Mark 5:9: "My name is Legion, for we are many", the reference drawn from the play towards the end of the movie, the signs reading "I am" and "We are". Camiel's sole purpose is to build his legion of minions, represented by his friends who will do anything to seek his "favor", his hounds of hell ushering in his reign (but not too early!), and the children and young babysitter of the family who serves as Camiel's coveted converts-to-be (children only, no adults). Once they "drink the Kool-Aid", a sign of ultimate obedience towards Camiel's demonic sovereignty, their backs are branded by the mark of Satan, which he also bears. Camiel is a playful demon, like that of an alp or incubus (see wikipedia). If Camiel can't play, he gets bored and goes somewhere else. When he is playing, it is in some form of the 7 deadly sins of Christianity: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. In a general sense, the movie is a depiction of these sins at work. They are evident at the beginning where a priest employs wrath to hunt down Camiel and then shortly thereafter when the husband beats Camiel to a pulp (through a combination of pride and wrath). Later in the movie, Isobel employs wrath on the gardener. Throughout Borgman, the wife gradually takes to Camiel via envy, exhibits gluttony towards alcohol, and eventually lust towards Camiel and wrath towards her husband. The children are afflicted with sloth after drinking the orange liquid. The husband is a constant victim of greed in trying to steal his boss's company. The middle-aged man lusts after the babysitter. (Etc.) At the center of all these sins is Camiel, either directly or indirectly influencing the actions, and thus advancing his demonic kingdom.Camiel, like that of an alp, likes to manipulate dreams. You see him sitting stark naked over the asleep wife throughout the movie (which is Camiel's truest form), manipulating her dreams that serve to further placate her to him. Camiel also shares characteristics with that of an incubus which is revealed when the wife has to die due to prolonged interactions with Camiel. The story of the White Child that Camiel narrates to the children is an allegorical parable in which Camiel is actually in it, and the moral of the story is the same as the moral of the movie. It is of an angel (white child) falling from heaven (above the clouds) and into the depths of hell (the bottom of a deep lake with a terrible beast in it). Camiel is the cripple during the last part of the story who volunteers to save the mother's child after all others would not. The villagers wrongly placed their trust in Jesus for the salvation of the child, which Camiel chastises them in the narrative, "Jesus is only concerned about Himself". Camiel is known to be the cripple because he gives his name as 'Antonius' to the mother in the narrative, and at the beginning of the movie, Camiel gives his name as 'Anton' to the wife, which is a derivative name. Furthermore, the etymology of 'Anton' means 'priceless', so placing faith in Anton is synonymous with placing value in something that is priceless, an obvious parable to idolatry and greed. The moral of the White Child story and the moral of the movie are the same: one should put their faith in Camiel, not Jesus. After all, Camiel is quite literally the Priceless Acolyte Landlord. This is my interpretation at least. Fantastic movie with lots to uncover for yourself.

brchthethird Weird and unnerving are a couple words which accurately describe the experience that is watching this film. What the film means is anyone's guess, and nothing is really spelled out or explained. This actually is a good thing, though, because the viewer can take away from it what they want. The story is about a vagrant named Borgman who insinuates himself into this affluent family's home and slowly makes life a living hell for them. The overall tone of the film is one of unease, mystery and black humor, peppered with a shock every now and then. There are several scenes which may stick with you long after finishing it, and there are a few that are still with me now. Comparing this to anything else is futile, except that if you like weird, disturbing movies (like I do), then you will probably love this. From a quality standpoint, everything is well-shot and all of the actors, including the children, give good performances as far as I can tell (Dutch isn't a language I speak). The tone of the film is also set very well by the score, which is off-kilter and dissonant. Since it is best to go into this film with as little information as possible, I'll end here. Suffice it to say, if you're brave enough to give this a try, you might end up liking it as I did.

Kingkitsch Who equates horror with the Netherlands? Windmills, tulips, cocoa, and Hans Brinker all come to mind but none of these things are cause for alarm. Director Alex van Warmerdam evidently wants to change your mind about Dutch stereotypes with "Borgman".This is one strange film. Who, or more importantly, what is Borgman? In the opening scenes, we follow a group of locals including a gun- toting priest, roust Borgman from his underground home in a forest. No explanation is given about why a mob is after this person, yet the inclusion of the priest hints that Mr. B. might be something other than human. Mr. B. alerts a few other underground dwellers that the jig is up and runs away. Mr. B. wanders onto the property of an evidently well-to-do couple in a boxlike house, asks to take a bath and when turned away by the man of the house, Mr. B. insinuates he "knows" the wife. A beating commences and Mr. B finally gets the attention of the wife who is feeling guilty over her husband's violence. So far, so good. Borgman worms his way into the lives of the family he's "adopted", aided and abetted by the wife who appears to be drawn to this dirty homeless man. The wife keeps her new friend out of the sight of her husband and bad things happen. About halfway through this unsettling story, all the tension and suspense is allowed to spiral out into surreal episodes that eventually become numbing. Borgman has friends. We don't know who or what they are. Two women might be able to become dogs. The family's gardener and his wife are destroyed in the film's most unpleasant scene, allowing Borgman to take the gardener's place. Shorn of his beard, he goes unrecognized. Scant reason for everything that happens during the second half of the film is where the story fails. It becomes boring. Since we cannot penetrate the motivations of the lead character or his allies, it's difficult to care what happens to whom. The director tightens the noose for an hour and then it all goes slack.The are some memorable visuals here, especially the bodies in the water. Many questions are asked of the viewer, but no resolution or answers are given to reward your attention. The ending is both abrupt and frustrating. One suspects that the director and screenplay refused to give any easy answers, leaving the viewer to either think this is one amazing metaphysical satire. Or maybe you just got your head messed with for two hours and ended up with a headache trying to figure out what wasn't there to begin with. Five stars for the performance of Jan Bijvoet as the title character and the aforementioned visuals. Now, about those dogs...