To Play Or To Die
Picture: C
Sound: B- Extras: D Film: C+
Besides the unusual subject of boys singling out a boy
with sexual overtones and finding ways to abuse and torment him, the other
interest in To Play Or To Die (1990, aka Spelen Of Sterven and
based on the Anna Blaman story) is that director Frank Krom worked on Paul
Verhoeven’s films in the Nederlands.
The question then is, would it offer the kind of more open sexuality
Verhoeven himself did about Homosexuality in films like Spetters (1980),
or would it either fail to go that route and/or even copy the nihilism of his
American films?
Well, Basic Instinct was two years away, so the
latter was not a problem. The film only
lasts 50 minutes and may not have the time to go further in what it explores,
but it does an interesting job in what it takes on and has some twists that are
in ambiguity Krom and co-writer Anne Van De Putte may or mat not have intended.
The target of the harassment is Kees (Geert Hunaerts) who
tries to keep to himself, but his fellow classmates target him as noted. Leading the charge against him has often
been Charel (Tjebbe Gerritsma), who Kees happens to be strongly attracted
to. Hiding this, he invites him home to
his house, and to get help with schoolwork the way Kees has been in school,
Charel agrees. Kees wants to get back
at him, but also possibly consummate some kind of sexual relationship,
something that sometimes happens between bullies and who they torment.
With that said, the visual dreams Kees has of being a
gymnast and how things continue for the rest of the film does not always draw
the line of what Kees has imagined and what actually happened. I actually liked that aspect in trying to
deal with the subject matter, but I still wish this had been full-length and
had the opportunity to delve into more of these issues. It certainly does take the next step after
the “buddy cycle” gave us Tony Bill’s My Bodyguard (1980), which skipped
just about all such overtones, but was still an underappreciated film.
The 1.66 X 1 image is just too washed out to capture the
fine cinematography by Nils Post, but there are still many moments that can be
more than made out. This would be quite
something to see in digital High Definition and especially film. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has strong Pro
Logic surrounds and is especially impressive for a production from 1990. No sound credit is included on the
film. There are a few trailers, but no
significant extras, but Krom was obviously paying attention to Verhoeven and
that alone is reason enough to see To Play Or To Die.
- Nicholas Sheffo
