The Gang - Blu-ray

Film: The Netherlands in the 1930s: In the small town of Oss in the southern province of Brabant, the Ossche Gang around leader Wim de Kuyper (Marcel Musters) rules with a hard hand. Corruption, rape and murder are virtually the order of the day here. Since even high-ranking politicians, the police and politicians are under the influence of the gang, the government uses the military police to bring the gang under control. Meanwhile, cafe owner and prostitute Johanna (Sylvia Hoeks) tries to make a life for herself away from crime and violence by completely different means. But her husband Ties (Matthias Schoenaerts), a nephew of de Kuyper, makes that nearly impossible. Soon Johanna realizes that she has only one way out if she wants to escape the gang's powerful grip: Ties must die.

Inspired by true events, The Gang, despite its title, is actually less about the machinations of Oss's gang. Rather, the focus here is on the struggle of a strong woman who tries by any means necessary to escape the life of crime and violence represented by the gang, and most especially her husband. Director André van Duren draws a very interesting main character, pleasantly multi-layered embodied by Sylvia Hoeks (The Best Offer - Das höchste Gebot). She is not an overstylized heroine, but a strong-willed woman who realizes that she also has to get her hands dirty if she wants to achieve her goals. How she uses or tries to manipulate the men around her to achieve this is played strongly and believably by Hoeks.

In addition, the director does a very good job of capturing the underlying mood in the area, which is smothered by crime and corruption, just before the outbreak of World War II. As a viewer, you can understand why Johanna wants to escape this world. This is also made very clear by the oppression of Ties, played with tremendous intensity by Matthias Schoenaerts (The Drop, The Loft). It's not hard to hate this man. Schoenaerts, who is now primarily seen in international productions, is already showing in this 2011 production why he has rightfully climbed the wave of success he is currently riding.

Some critics accuse The Gang of straying too far from the facts and taking too many dramatic liberties. While that may be true, it doesn't change the fact that André van Duren has directed a rousing gangster drama that has a few minor lengths, but overall scores points with a coherent set, a gripping story and good actors. And for this there is then also a very clear: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: You can see the film that this is not a big Hollywood production. Here and there there are minor weaknesses in the sharpness of detail, but these only marginally diminish the overall positive impression. Because overall, the very clean picture pleases with atmospheric colors and a convincing overall sharpness. The sound has some good surround effects to offer, but could be a bit livelier especially in the moments of tension. Dialogue is mixed with good intelligibility and the music is coherent with the action. Good!

Extras: Apart from programme tips and an image gallery, the Blu-ray unfortunately has no extras to offer.

Conclusion: The Gang is a tense drama that may not be completely authentic historically, but which has decent entertainment value thanks to its gripping story and good actors. The Blu-ray presents the film in appealing picture and sound quality. In terms of bonus material, however, the disc disappoints. Nevertheless, there is alone due to the successful main film a clear: Recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp