De Brief voor de Koning (film)
| The Letter for the King | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| De Brief voor de Koning | |
| Directed by | Pieter Verhoeff |
| Produced by |
Armada Productions Eyeworks Egmond |
| Screenplay by |
Maarten Lebens Pieter Verhoeff |
| Based on |
De brief voor de Koning by Tonke Dragt |
| Starring |
Yannick van de Velde Quinten Schram |
| Music by | Erwin Roodhardt |
| Cinematography | Jules van den Steenhoven |
| Edited by | Bart van den Broek |
| Distributed by | Benelux Film Distributors |
Release date |
|
Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | Netherlands |
| Language | Dutch |
| Budget | €7.5 million[1] |
| Box office | $2.8 million[2] |
The Letter for the King (Dutch: De Brief voor de Koning) is a Dutch adventure film of 2008 written by Maarten Lebens and Pieter Verhoeff and is directed by the latter.[3][4][5]
The film is based on the 1962 book of the same name by Dutch writer Tonke Dragt. In 1963 the book won the Dutch award Best Youth Book of the Year; in 2005 it was named the Best Youth Book of the past 50 years. Over a million copies of the book have been sold to date.[3]
The filming of The Letter for the King took place from November 2007 till early March 2008, on locations in Germany (Eisenach and Engelskirchen), Luxembourg (Vianden), Belgium and the Netherlands.[1]
Plot
In the land of Dagonaut a medieval squire named Tiuri is on a last mission together with four other squires to spend their time inside the chapel without chatting, sleeping, or eating. This is their last test in order to become a knight. But suddenly a badly wounded knight knocks from the door looking for help. Tiuri abandon the rules and opens the door and the knight is asking him to deliver an important letter to king of Unauwen. The dying knight gives him a special ring as a proof that he was sent by Edwinem.
During his journey, he passes to the land of Grey Knights where bandits rove there. He looses his horse from the bandits and continue to his travel without it but keeps the Important thing, the special ring that was given to him by Edwinem.
In the Mistrinaut castle Tiuri is put in prison and is fighting with the so-called gray knights who suspect him for the murder of Edwinem. The maiden Lavinia saves him by convincing her father that Tiuri is innocent. Then, her father helps Tiuri on his mission by sending him some gray knights to accompany him towards on his next journey.
Tiuri met someone who is on pilgrimage without knowing that it is actually a red rider spy. But when the time that this red rider's life is in danger, Tiuri saves him. And because of this the red rider is in change of heart.
Tiuri goes to a hermit named Menaures. Menaures send his boy Piak as Tiuri's guide.
When the time that Tiuri and Piak is on a struggle with the letter which is threatens to be fall from the wrong hands, Tiuri opens the letter and memorise on what is written there and then after that he burns the letter so that no one can read the letter. He memorise the letter without knowing the meaning of the message because the message is written in different language. Piak helps him to remember it by making it into a song.
They have to cross the bridge but before that they must have to pay the toll in order to pass that bridge. They don't have the money to pay for that toll. So they make a way by passing the side of the bridge. Piak is accidentally falls from the Rainbow river, but Tiuri saves him from drowning. They are caught by the tolheer and they explain to the tolheer on what is their mission. The special ring helps their explanation by showing it to the operatives.
Tiuri fortunately completed his mission. The content of the letter is that the country is in danger because the enemy Eviellan with his red riders has a bad plan for the country. Tiuri is honoured by the king for making the message to be successfully brought to him.
Cast
- Yannick van de Velde as Tiuri
- Quinten Schram as Piak
- Rüdiger Vogler as King of Unauwen / Menaures
- Hanna Schwamborn as Lavinia
- Lars Rudolph as Slupor
- Victor Reinier as Gray Knight Ristridin
- Daan Schuurmans as Gray Knight Bendoe
- Raymond Thiry as Tiuri the Brave
- Derek de Lint as King of Dagonaut
- Gijs Scholten van Aschat as Knight Edwinem
- Kees Boot as Jaro
- Hans Dagelet as Warmin
- Michiel Romeyn as Rover Chief
- Monic Hendrickx as Mother of Tiuri
- Uwe Ochsenknecht as Lord Rafox
Production notes
- The film's plot does not include Marius, a forest dweller whom Tiuri first meets on his journey to Unauwen's realm, thereby forestalling a filmization of the original novel's sequel, in which Marius plays a pivotal role.
Awards
The film was awarded as the best film at the thirteenth International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience in both the international jury and the youth jury in October 2008. In the same month and in the same year, the film was awarded in a German town Marburg on the Final Cut Film Festival.[1] The film also received the Golden Film, awarded by the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund on 30 July 2008 for reaching 100,000 tickets sold.[6]
References
- 1 2 3 "brief voor de koning, De (alen)" [Letter for the King, The] (in Dutch). FilmTotaal.nl. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ↑ "Foreign Movies: De Brief voor de koning (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
- 1 2 "De brief voor de koning". Nederlands Film Festival. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ "THE LETTER FOR THE KING". Heimatfilm. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ "The Letter for the King (De Brief voor de koning)". Cineuropa. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
- ↑ "Gouden Film voor De brief voor de koning" (in Dutch). Netherlands Film Festival. 30 July 2008. Archived from the original on 22 August 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
External links
- Official website (in Dutch)
- De Brief voor de Koning on IMDb
- De Brief voor de Koning at the TCM Movie Database
- De Brief voor de Koning at AllMovie
- De Brief voor de Koning at Rotten Tomatoes
- De Brief voor de Koning at Box Office Mojo