Turks Fruit (Dutch for Turkish Delight) was screened during the ‘Dutch Classic’ movie night hosted by ESN Rotterdam and Erasmus Cultuur. What do foreign students think about one of The Netherlands most controversial movie?
The movie Turks Fruit portrays the love story between a bohemian sculptor and the love of his life. Turks Fruit was nominated for an Oscar for ‘best foreign language film and received a significant Dutch movie award, a Gouden Kalf, for the ‘best Dutch film of the twentieth century’. It was a controversial movie when it was released in 1973 due to the explicit use of nudity and even today, students found it quite notorious.
Explicit nudity
De Swaan Arons explains that he did not expect that internationals will be very shocked by the content of the movie. “Let’s be honest, controversy in the year 1973 is simply not the same as controversy in the year 2013”, says de Swaan Arons. Nonetheless, Turkish Delight includes several distinct nude scenes, which caused the audience with primarily international students to giggle. “I did not expect that I would still experience the movie as so controversial”, admits Lucia Navratilova, a master exchange student at RSM from Slovakia, “I mean the movie was quite drastic with all the naturalistic scenes.”
EUR in movie
In Turkish Delight one of the main characters unexpectedly ends up in the hospital. These scenes create a notable wave of whispering in the audience, such as ‘is that at campus?’ and ‘that is the H-building right?’ Indeed, the hospital showed in the movie includes parts of the H-building and C-building of Erasmus University.
Too long
Turkish Delight lasts about one and a half hours, but for some students that was too long. After an hour several students looked at the clock multiple times. “One and a half hours was too much for me. I did not like the movie much in the end because the story line quite crazy”, explains Navratilova.
Movies integrate internationals
Next to relaxing while watching a real ‘Dutch classic,’ movie screenings serve another purpose. “Movies have been a platform to express reality about social, economic and political issues, and it is a fast and practical way to connect with people from any background”, highlights Daniel Vargas, a MBA student from Peru.
‘Dutch Classics’ movie screenings
ESN Rotterdam and Erasmus Cultuur host a movie screening of a ‘Dutch Classic’ every month. From now onwards, students can vote which classic they want to see by voting on the online poll on the ESN Rotterdam Facebook-page. Attending is free.
Curious about the movie Turkish Delight? Watch some scenes here.
