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De duivel is slim

Short documentary, 2004, 55 min.

Aboard the Urk fishing boat, people say prayers before eating and the Bible has a fixed place. The village of Urk may experience some secularisation, the Christian faith still plays a key role in the community. Director Hans Heijnen filmed fishermen and their families at home, at the fish auction and on board. Here, despite the modern equipment on the bridge, life seems unchanged, with the narrow passageways inside and the deck with the eternally bobbing horizon outside. `These things simply happen', the skipper answers to a question about his father who was killed at sea, but also: `I regularly pray for protection.' Heijnen shows the difference in sternness between generations and between the two denominations, Reformed and Presbyterian. The film also deals with Sunday's rest, the position of women and homosexuals, and the lures of sex and liquor. After all, even for a young inhabitant of Urk, the narrow road leads to heaven and the broad way, `the way of pleasure, of godlessness', still leads to hell.

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Cinematographer - DoP

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