Redbad is a 2018 Dutch drama film directed by Roel Reiné. It is based on the life of Redbad, the medievalking ofFrisia. The film was intended as the middle part of a trilogy about iconic Dutch/Frisian heroes, starting with the film Michiel de Ruyter about 17th century admiral Michiel de Ruyter and ending with a film about William of Orange.
In August 2017, Gijs Naber, was announced as the lead actor for this film and Huub Stapel would play Redbad's father Frysian king Aldgisl Soon afterwards it was confirmed that Derek de Lint, Egbert-Jan Weber, Loes Haverkort, Lisa Smit, Martijn Fischer, Tuin Keulboer, Aus Greidanus sr., Jack Wouterse, Renée Soutendijk and Birgit Schuurman where all cast and in October 2017 actor Jonathan Banks is cast for the film.
In May 2018, the producers of the film announced that YouTube and Facebook had sent an email to them that they would not show the trailer of the film on their platforms because it was considered offensive to large groups of people. Producer Klaas de Jong also mentioned he got hundreds of angry mails from Christians who did not agree with their depiction of historical events.
Release
Box office
The film premiered on 23 June 2018, in an open air screening on the Wilhelminasquare in Leeuwarden, as part of the celebrations around the European Capital of Culture, a week later, on 28 June, it was released in cinemas nationwide. After its first month it only earned €332,785 back from its 8 million euro budget, making it the biggest box office bomb in the country's history. The producers of the film claimed this was because the warm weather and World Cup kept the public outside of cinemas. The film was released in 4DX in two Pathé-cinemas in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, making it the first Dutch film released in 4DX. Seven weeks after its release it was already moved to video on demand-platform Pathé Thuis. This was at the time the shortest window between a theatre release and home release for a big Dutch production, which normally takes a period of three months. The film was also later edited into a four-part television miniseries, where they showed unused footage of the film.
Critical response
The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews from the major Dutch newspapers. The Algemeen Dagblad said that everything in this movie takes too long, “the fight scenes, the introductions of the characters and the explanatory dialogue slow down the movie”. De Volkskrant gave it two stars, praising the fight scenes but finding the screenplay clearly lacking in logic and tension. NRC Handelsblad said the movie was weighed down by a very top-heavy screenplay and an over reliance on drama. Trouw praised actor Gijs Naber but complained about the awful dialogue which was clearly written from a 21st-century perspective. De Telegraaf while praising the ambition of the movies said that it takes too long and is overly reliant on close-ups and slow motion-scenes. They also praised Jonathan Banks his role and remarked that it looked as if actor Jack Wouterse was in a completely different movie. Het Parool praised the fact that director Roel Reine put his own signature on the film and that the troubled production was barely noticeable. However they do mention that it is sometimes noticeable that they did not have enough extras in some of the fight scenes.
Historical inaccuracies
In an article by Asing Walthaus of the Leeuwarder Courant, historian Han Nijdam noted several historical inaccuracies. He pointed out that the castle in the film and the knights with chainmail armour are from the late middle ages and not from the early middle ages that the film depicts. He also complained that the film portrays the Frysians as barbarians in animal hides living in leaking huts even though it is proven that they lived in wooden houses with woven tapestries on their walls. It was his conclusion that the film puts spectacle over any form of historical accuracy.
In November 2018, the producers of the film announced that they would be suing YouTube for 200,000 euros because illegal copies of the film were viewed half a million times on the website.
