Theo van Gogh? Die is dood

'Out of four people who were here, three have said: Theo van Gogh? He'll be dead in five years.' With these prophetic words, spoken by Jeroen de Pauw during an interview with Van Gogh, the documentary begins about the filmmaker and controversial columnist who was assassinated in 2004. Van Gogh reacts in his usual way: with a lot of swagger and bluff: 'I think I will reach at least 87.' The portrait is largely compiled from excerpts of TV interviews. Not only as an interviewee, but also as an interviewer, of himself and of Pim Fortuyn. It is obvious that with the demise of Van Gogh and Fortuyn two important champions of the freedom of speech were lost. Van Gogh chiefly appears as an advocate of free speech - for instance in the debate about the freedom of speech held in the open air in Amsterdam. And in a now famous home video, in which a heavily guarded Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Hans Teeuwen pay him a visit, and cynical jokes are made about their deaths.