This is definitely a film that can’t be judged by its first twenty minutes. A singer performs for a group of elderly ladies at an old people’s home.

They think he is wonderful and some of them are blatantly attracted to him. But, that is only to introduce us to the singer (Laurent Lucas).

When his van breaks down, things take a turn for the worse (and worser). You expect bizarre goings on when vehicles break down in isolated areas in American films. There is always the equivalent of the Texas chainsaw massacre. Well, here is the Belgian woods version of the same story. Just as gory, quite as bizarre and an insane motivation to rival the Americans.

Poor Laurent. He has to go through so much humiliation and pain. And the isolated backwoods types are inbred, prone to mistake strangers for their wives or lovers, hang around the local for drinks and stomp a zombie-like dance when roused.There are some allusions to the passion of Jesus which might seem a reasonable metaphor for the suffering but a touch blasphemous given the story and treatment. This is one of those dramas, because unexpected and gruesome, where you feel a strong desire for fresh and clean air by the end.

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