THE HELLE BROTHERS

year: 1975
duration: 28 min

logline:
The splendid isolation of an elderly woman and her younger son is threatened when the elder son and breadwinner brings a girlfriend home.
(source: NFT London)

synopsis:
When we were in the village, we sometimes visited the sister of my great-grandmother Koos.
She was very old and growing the way a cow’s tail does – downwards. My little sister and I were always given a sweet from a tin. She still made those sweets herself.
Later my mother said that we shouldn’t be eating those sweets, because the kitchen was dirty. That I never noticed.
Not far from the sea-wall, two brothers lived with their mother. As dusk fell outside, I was given a cup of coffee with a lot of milk in it and skin on top.
We sat on old worn-out chairs at a wobbly table. Behind the sliding doors was the best room. In exactly the same position, a table and four chairs, but then very nice, bought after years of saving. Only for Sundays and very special occasions.
The Helle Brothers and their mother are just made up. Actors playing people who look like people I have seen. Film is a strange reflection and sometimes you watch it more closely than the real things.
Digna Sinke
(source: text flyer)

cast:
Hidde Maas, Cor van Rijn, Jeanne Verstraete, Loes Vos

screenplay & directing: Digna Sinke
producer: Rolf Orthel
camera: Paul van den Bos
gaffer Cons Tresfon
sound: Roel Bazen
script/continuity Titia Jaarsveld
editing: René Scholten
accordion: Tony Benoit – Miny Dekkers
assistance: Hans Fels – Hans Oosterhuis – Jacinta Hin – Jules van den Steenhoven
re-recording: Wim Wolfs
laboratory: Cineco

thanks to
Koninklijke Muziekvereniging Concordia
Rederijkerskamer ‘de Eendracht’
Krijger Tours Goes
the population of St. Maartensdijk en Tholen

this film was supported by the Ministry of Culture & Recreation

première 29 April 1975
distribution: Film International (together with Altijd wat anders, zelden iets goeds by Orlow Seunke, titled: Sinke & Seunke