Het zwijgen

A murder song (to music by the Kift and sung by fado singer Nynke Laverman) about a triple, unsolved murder plays the leading role in this mystic drama, set on the Drenthe heath. An Amsterdam researcher from the Meertens Institute gets acquainted with the song when he inherits a small house from an uncle in the village of Koekange. The metropolitan single recognises the adventure and temporarily moves into the dilapidated, deserted house. Gradually, he falls under the spell of the silent surroundings, the singing bargee's daughter and the mystery sung about in the song. The villagers know more, but remain silent. The play with past and present, with what is and what is not there, the black-and-white archive footage of Drenthe, the loose ends and the Russian music lend the film a special, mysterious atmosphere. Thus, the spectator is left behind with the question who really was deluded. (Nederlands Film Festival)