L’Ami Hollandais (andere locatie)

L’Ami Hollandais Pieter Jan Smit 2006 72’ documentary film Dutch French Russian spoken, English subtitels Synopsis: To what extent can someone retain his individual integrity in an era of collectivism? The friendship between the world-famous French writer André Gide (1869 – 1951) and the Dutch writer and communist Jef Last (1898 – 1972), they are both homosexual, provides a picture of the political and cultural climate in Europe in the 1930s. During a journey in 1936 they made together through the Soviet Union, Jef Last was increasingly influenced by the critical attitude of André Gide whose account of the journey Retour de l’URSS turned out to be a bombshell. As a soldier in the trenches of Madrid, having joined the Spanish republican army in its fight against Fascism immediately after the trip, Jef Last slowly begins to understand that he is not so much fighting for a free Spain as for the greater fame and glory of Joseph Stalin.