The best sports documentaries are not about sports – De Groene Amsterdammer

December 2018. Irene Scotten finished second at the start of the World Cup in Heerenveen, after Japan’s Nana Takagi. Almost everyone in the Schuten family is in the stands, as usual. Father Klass: He will be angry. ‘But a second great,’ says Sister Catherine. She’s right. There is Irene. Really angry. Zus: Now Erin also knows how other people feel when they come second; But it loses for the better’, which is true and wise if not at all convenient at the time.

Irene was silent for a moment. Then: “She’s just a bitch. That Na’s just a stupid bitch. Catherine: But she’s too fast. Lulu (Lollobrigida, another eternal competitor – WVDK) He has nothing.’ Erin: “But I’m better than them, right?” Frustration as well as a self-image that, at least three years later, turns out to be largely correct – Olympic gold, with team quest and mass start still in place. Her judgment of Nana is not wrong. You don’t get that from a stranger. “I’ve already kicked Erin three times – what a filthy whore,” Father Klass said of Ivani Blondin.

So, reader, keep an eye out for that Canadian bitch at the start of Saturday mass at 10:00 AM. They are strong, Scots, tough sometimes, to others, to each other, to themselves.

Right after that we see Eren again in the documentary Life isn’t always about tulips. She crawled into bed with her mother, Jolanda. Jolanda, the powerful hub of a family with four children and the hub of the successful family business in tulips and peonies. Even a brain hemorrhage in 2016 put an end to it. Like Granites like Schoutens, they are very loving and caring for the mother. Who did not at first appear to be alive, but now, handicapped, severely limited in speech and memory, a source of anxiety, an imperfection, but also of a new kind, perhaps a stronger love.

On weekdays she is in a nursing home, where they frequently visit, and on weekends she returns to the house that has become the home of the men of father and sons Simon and Claas the Younger, who run the business together. But Catherine always comes on weekends to take care of Mommy (she does a lot with Mom anyway) and Erin as often as she can, because yes, she trains, drives, and travels. By the way, she is often taken to the competitions of Irene and her brother Simon (also a snowboarder – multiple marathon champion even, according to the documentary, because he is no longer compatible with the company that he will run with his brother). So far Eren is lying there, in the nursing home, shortly after the defeat to Nana. ‘How are you mom?’ Do you remember the sports I play?

‘nurse.’

No, on the ice rink. Things went very badly. (Because the second!) ‘My stomach was bothering me. They got a little angry at home: “You can’t stand the pressure.” But I really suffered. It turned out to be inflammation.

“It’s bad,” Mom says. be cerfull.’ Erin: That’s exactly when I miss you, Mom. Do you miss me too? Mother: “Carefully, carefully.”

As I write this, I am astonished at myself: What right do we really have to be here and should I pass it on? That wasn’t true, of course, but the decision to accept photographer Barbara Makenga and his crew was with the family. The result is not only confusing and confrontational, but also insightful, disproving prejudices, impressive and poignant. It’s not showy. Painful and revealing at times, but as an essential message Amore Vincent Omnia Then I would venture to recommend the movie. Although sometimes I doubt my mother. Do you want this?

Sometimes, when she is pushed into a room, she sees her face in front of the camera. She has quite a bit of an expression on her face and you don’t know exactly what those piercing eyes mean. Which, by the way, is more frequent. Sometimes you wonder: do you still want to? She may be angry and scream or give negative answers to hopeful questions that are difficult to understand. Hardly understood (but others are experienced with deciphering), anyone can be severely affected. It is clear that the family, father first, cannot and will not do without her and will do anything to keep her with them and, as far as possible, to give her well-being. They hope, they almost beg for the return of their love. Who does not rule out jokes. And now and then they are rewarded a little, sometimes generously. With more appropriate answers from the “nurse”. With a tired smile. And most importantly, with signs of affection. Touch more than words. When asked who would prefer a kiss, the whole family chanted to answer “Dad.” And the father himself is an example of a loving husband. Whoever carries it himself to the scanning machine in the hospital and puts it on it.

This baffles me and I feel ashamed. Because I don’t think he’s a nice guy. Watch him yell against Simon’s team management when he finished last in a leading group: it seems his teammates didn’t fight enough in his service. “He doesn’t drive your car anymore.” A little later, we see Simon and Eren at a training camp in the mountains, led by Gilert Anima (possibly Simon turned). Anima briefly mentions what he expects from them on that day. There is no Spanish word. And I realize that sister and brother know that tone and style all too well (“they got a little grumpy at home”). Anima doesn’t seem like a nice type to me, someone who likes to start riots to irritate his students and spoil the competition. But of course there are a lot of unpleasant things about top sports (not counting #MeToo). As most of them cannot afford their loss, because of which, in ordinary life, even a small part of them does not lose in reality. And do we want medals if necessary?

We can be with love and grief with the father, who misses the “warmth in the house” (Yolanda) the most. It’s actually no fun in a men’s lazy meal that has more Hollandaise than a Dutch pot with applesauce on it. We are allowed to engage in delicate discussions about finances—how do we arrive at a reasonable division between the boys, who run the company, and the girls, who take great care of their mother, respectively, and who skate? When negotiating with a contractor about the expansion of the company’s capital.

By far, the best sports documentaries don’t revolve around sports. Or just sideways. Champions are great athletes, but the movies are about more important things. this lily About love and loss. Irene is not a skater, but a daughter. About the massive loss of the mother, in a double sense. It cannot be compensated by love, but without love it is more unbearable. About the loss of other family members, Father and Catherine lead the way. Then the aura comes over her head and we experience again what that means in great grief for the sick and/or the elderly. Her in the enterprise, to others.

I remember an old ski gem, also an EO. With the Scottin family, God was never mentioned. in black ice (2013) by Gertjan Lach Letts. About marathon skaters in Overijssel and their relationship to God. About the ancestors of Irene and Simon Scottin. With Rene Rothenberg, who believed that victory and a woman were more important than God, until a tragic event in the family of Saul Paul made him a lay preacher. And with the humble and orthodox Andre Klompmaker, also a class act, the seriousness of religion and its perception of the human thing and guilt contrast sharply with narcissism, even in Rothenberg’s guilt admissions.

Then the freezing starts in 2012 and the Elfstedentocht is prepared. It is the edge. It seems that this is only possible on Sundays. (This is called the happiness of a good director.) And you see it coming: Andrei, horribly, will not be able to participate. René, who is supposed to be more strict in the teachings, appears to have found a gap in the text of the Bible with which he might be able to start (and win). But Slotermeer is still very dangerous. canceled. It is, among other things, a great anthropological study. Beautifully photographed. And a tragedy for masses of people, but trivial compared to the Scotins’ tragedy.

What did Scotten’s mom always say to the kids? “Exercise brings more disappointments than joys. But it makes you difficult. Erin won the 5000m on Thursday with the edge. She got a phone call right away. We saw her waving on the screen. I think: for my mom. Nice movie.