George Sluizer's "Spoorloos" (called "The Vanishing" in English) is not like any movie that you've ever seen. It initially focuses on the disappearance of a Dutch tourist (Johanna ter Steege) at a gas station and how her boyfriend (Gene Bervoets) searches for her for years...but then it changes. The focus then shifts to the perpetrator (Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu), and we see how he leads what appears to be the most ordinary life. He could be your best friend. And finally, the movie's ending is a real shocker.
I read that the movie is based on an urban legend about a girl who gets separated from her mother, but then no one recalls having ever seen her mother. In that sense, the movie deals with despair. How would you cope if this happened to you? Still, what we learn about the perpetrator is what truly makes this such a good movie. It poses the question of how well anyone truly knows anyone else. There was apparently an American remake of this movie, but I'll just avoid that one. But I do recommend this one.
I read that the movie is based on an urban legend about a girl who gets separated from her mother, but then no one recalls having ever seen her mother. In that sense, the movie deals with despair. How would you cope if this happened to you? Still, what we learn about the perpetrator is what truly makes this such a good movie. It poses the question of how well anyone truly knows anyone else. There was apparently an American remake of this movie, but I'll just avoid that one. But I do recommend this one.