Although I watch a lot of movies every year, there are not many which are set in Surinam. The country has a strong connection with the Netherlands as it is a former colony, where slavery was used in the past. When slavery was abolished a lot of people from other countries (China, India, Indonesia) moved to Surinam to build a future there. It means that the country has a very mixed population. Wan Pipel, directed by Pim de la Parra is the first Surinamese movie made after Surinam gained its indepence in 1975.
Roy (Borger Breeveld) is a man from Surinam who is living in the Netherlands to study. When he receives a telegram that his mother is about to die, he needs to head back to see her. He does not have enough money, but his girlfriend Karina (Willeke van Ammelrooy) gives him the money to pay for the ticket. Once he is back he has to adjust. His father (Emanuel van Gonter) has high expectations of Roy, wanting him to finish his studies, but now that Roy is back to Surinam he feels he should stay there. He starts looking for his own identity and meets a Hindu girl named Rubia (Diana Gangaram Panday). The two fall in love which causes issues as her parents don’t allow her to go out with someone who isn’t a Hindu. When his Dutch girlfriend Karina decides to come to Surinam as well the situation Roy is in becomes even more complicated.
I have been Surinam several times and this movie captures the beauty of the country, but also the issues cultural differences can create. In this case it is Rubia who has to stand up against her parents for spending time with Roy, while he is struggling with finding his own identity, wanting to stay in Surinam as he feels such a strong connection to it. The movie also shows some rituals typical for the culture, which I thought was nice to see. Borger Breeveld, Emanuel van Gonter and Willeke van Ammelrooy all give great performances. I thought Diana Gangaram Panday was the weakest of the cast. What shocked me to read was that after this movie she actually had issues within her community (just like in the movie) because of the role she played, which proves that the cultural differences as shown in Wan Pipel were reality within Surinam. She was forced to move to the Netherlands because of it. It was not the only tragedy. The movie went way over budget and meant the end of its production company. It would mean the end of De La Parra’s career as he wouldn’t make any feature movies anymore. Wan Pipel though is a very good movie which perfectly captures many aspects of Surinam.
