While producing the six-part documentary series Cannabis, we met Henk de Vries, the founder of the Bulldog coffeeshops. His life story is so compelling and its scope so vast that we deemed it impossible to capture its full essence within the confines of the Cannabis narrative. We proposed to create a dedicated documentary focusing solely on his life and his iconic creation: The Bulldog coffeeshop.
To our joy and excitement, Henk agreed to the project, and since 2019 we have been working on the production of this absolutely wonderful documentary, one which takes the viewer from the horrors of WWII to the violent back alleys of the red light district, and from a ski resort in Canada to the beaches of Aruba. Henk, inspired by the dramatizations we used in the series Cannabis, showed a clear preference for integrating reenactments into his own narrative.
Reenactments often stir controversy among documentary filmmakers. Within the tight Dutch documentary community, people often gossip about the use of intended or unintended reenactments, especially in documentaries not explicitly presented to the public as being hybrid. The Dutch/Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu Assad used reenactments in his documentary Ford Transit. It caused an uproar and prompted a formal reaction by the VPRO, a Dutch public broadcaster, disapproving of the use of reenactments in Abu Assad’s film. Another notable tale is that of iconic filmmaker Heddy Honigman in the Parisian underground. Her film, The Underground Orchestra, tells the story of musicians challenging authority to perform in metro stations. Yet, the absence of police harassment during filming contradicted the film’s narrative. In a creative twist, Honigman orchestrated a faux arrest by borrowing a police uniform and asking the hotelier to act as a cop, blurring the lines between reality and fiction. At least so the story goes.
These stories highlight the complex relationship many Dutch documentary filmmakers have with the use of fiction (reenactments) in documentaries. While the fusion of documentary and fictional elements is more broadly accepted in countries like the US and the UK, Morgan Neville’s use of AI in “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” and its subsequent fallout, remind us of the ethical boundaries in documentary storytelling worldwide.
Precisely because we are aware of the pitfalls of using fiction in documentary and mindful of the fervent, sometimes purist approach to documentary ethics, especially in the Netherlands, we invited filmmaker Arne Toonen (Dik Trom, Blackout, Baantjer: The Beginning) to helm the reenactments for our documentary on The Bulldog. Arne’s approach to filmmaking, far removed from subtlety or restraint, promised to infuse our project with extraordinary flair and intensity.
Arne’s direction of the reenactments achieved something unique as well. Most documentary filmmakers shoot their reenactments in a manner that conceal their fictional nature. Dialogue is usually minimized, and a more socially-realistic camera movement is often employed. This is typically done to make the audience less aware of the fiction and create a smoother viewing experience. Arne, however, had no interest in directing anything in a subdued manner; on the contrary, he crafted scenes that were clearly over the top. When edited into the documentary, by the wonderful editor Haukje Heuff, Arne’s reenactments provided an unforeseen commentary on the truth of Henk’s own story. In embracing Arne’s bold style, we’ve not only cast Henk’s remarkable journey in a new light but also redefined the boundaries of documentary storytelling.
