*HANNA D. THE GIRL FROM VONDELPARK* 1984
(Hanna D.-La Ragazza del Vondel Park)
Directed by Rino Di Silvestro
84 minutes
In English

Don't expect academy award winning performances from this Italian exploitation flick from Amsterdam's heydays of the 80s. For me this is when Amsterdam was in its prime, but you wouldn't be able to tell it from this dark movie. What can I say? I believe in diversity, and every upside also creates a downside. So let's dive into that downside, but also at the same time get a few glimpses of what Amsterdam was like before it was overrun with middle-class values, and gentrified by corporate globalism!

This movie follows the story of Hanna, a young girl living in Amsterdam. It has all the typical dramatic elements... an alcoholic prostitute mother, broken dreams, the confusion of youth and the generation gap. Young Hanna is forced to use her sexuality to make a living, but soon descends into the world of heroin. There is also the conflict between a brutal pimp and a nice guy she falls in love with. As one critic said: "All these factors are strong dramatic containers, but the execution is so over the top and exploitative, the editing by Bruno Mattei, so choppy, the directing job so crass and the cinematography so delightfully moody and downbeat, hence all that remains is an exploitation masterpiece."

This film about a teenage junkie is certainly sleazy as hell, full of nudity and over-the-top moments, which isn't helped at all by some really bad dubbing into English. Director Di Silvestro confounds his audience by mixing "romantic sex scenes, accompanied by jolly music, with scenes of filth and utter degradation". Things get even worse in the second half when the movie gets serious and tries to sell us "a message", but even that has its nostalgic charm. Of course it was cashing in on the art-house “Christiane F.” craze of the 80s, but this one doesn't have David Bowie in it, and everything that was left to the imagination in the previous film, is unveiled in this one. Starring Ana-Gisel Glass in the lead role. What can I say? It's the crown jewel of all Amsterdam exploitation drug films.

Film start: 21:00