Oeroeg

Oeroeg (Going Home) is based on the novel Oeroeg by Hella Haase and tells the story of the friendship between the Dutch planter's son Johan ten Berghe and the Indo boy Urug. In Van der Velde's script, the story begins where the book ends: in 1947. After completing university in Holland, Johan is sent back as a soldier to his birthplace in the Dutch East Indies, which is now facing the struggle for independence as Indonesia. His visit to his parents' home turns into a nightmare. The house is derelict, its inhabitants have fled and his father is lying dead on the veranda, murdered by the rebels. That leads Johan to set out on an almost desperate quest for the culprits, but also for the Dutch East Indies as they were before the war, the world of his childhood. He is forced to fight the people he felt so attached to and to fight his old friend Urug. Rik Launspach was presented with a Golden Calf for Best Actor for his role as Johan.