Review of Max Havelaar: or, The Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company (1976) by Ben G — 14 Nov 2009

Not everyone is Sajitha Ray or Luchino Visconti, making an epic without real linear construction and filled with meaningful silents is a difficult endeavour. Fons Rademakers tries his best and is often close from success but he never quite manages to nail his subject and the spectator is often left bored to tears. It is really unfortunate since the cast is brilliant, in particular Peter Faber proves what a brilliant actor he is.

The setting in Indonesia is glorious, but we can regret the rather dullness of the point made: if people in power were nicer to the people, there would be less poverty. The character of Max is not very well constructed either and at times his actions barely make sense. Finally, it is unfortunate that the end is a sort of small-time administrative plot which is about as interesting as it sounds.