An Ideal for Living
Director Ruud Bakker
Countries Netherlands
Duration 55 min
Synopsis
In the seventies, Utrecht changes from a dull provincial town to a city that attracks nationwide attention. The shopping mall Hoog Catharijne becomes a catalyst for a rising awareness of it’s citizens. Their fight for liveability and against a municipal politics of demolishing the old city, concentrates around the question ‘Whom belongs the city to’? This documentary highlights a period of intense idealism – the seventies and eighties. The author investigates the history of his city. He works his way through an evocative and highly stylized archive. He is interested in a tendency towards more violence during the clashes between squatters and police. What stand outs in this film are the motives and methods of activists and the way the author and archive connect those. Finally Onutregse Toestanden is a portrait of a town where a shopping mall invaded its heart but in that way also raised attention and care for the remaining city.
In the seventies, Utrecht changes from a dull provincial town to a city that attracks nationwide attention. The shopping mall Hoog Catharijne becomes a catalyst for a rising awareness of it’s citizens. Their fight for liveability and against a municipal politics of demolishing the old city, concentrates around the question ‘Whom belongs the city to’? This documentary highlights a period of intense idealism – the seventies and eighties. The author investigates the history of his city. He works his way through an evocative and highly stylized archive. He is interested in a tendency towards more violence during the clashes between squatters and police. What stand outs in this film are the motives and methods of activists and the way the author and archive connect those. Finally Onutregse Toestanden is a portrait of a town where a shopping mall invaded its heart but in that way also raised attention and care for the remaining city.