Dec 24, 2004  |  By: VAN GOWE  | COMMENTS     

PAUL VERHOEVEN KNOWS a thing or two about controversy. The Dutch director garnered his fair share of it with the release of “Basic Instinct” and “Showgirls,” whose over-the-top sexuality and violence were buffered with a slick Hollywood gloss. Critics said the films presented lesbian characters in a negative and unrealistic light.

In 1980, some years before Verhoeven went Hollywood, he was considered a key figure in the Dutch new-wave film industry. This was the year he released “Spetters,” a disturbing but powerful look at desperation’s pivotal role in the lives of a small group of young and restless Dutch friends. One of the main characters in the film ultimately acknowledges he is gay.

Rien (Hans van Tongeren) is a hotshot motocross racer who dreams of one day being as great as local star racer Gerritt (Rutger Hauer). For support, he leans on his mechanic, Eef (Toon Agterberg), and his buddy, Hans (Maarten Spanjer), who is searching for his purpose in life.

Into their lives comes the beautiful, opportunistic Fientje (Renee Sountendijk) who, along with her gay brother, operates a traveling fast-food concession where she meets the three boys after Rien wins a championship race.

Fientje sees her ticket to the good life in the endorsement-rich motocross scene, and begins to scheme and sleep her way through the group of friends to achieve her goals.

VERHOEVEN ALSO TACKLES gay themes in “Spetters.” Eef, who in the film bashes several gay people and also watches with fascination as a male prostitute services a john, is later gang-raped by a group of men in the subway. The experience frees his repressed homosexual feelings. Eef subsequently comes out to his strict religious father, who responds by beating him up.

The rape scene, in typical Verhoeven fashion, is brutal and graphic. It’s also extremely offensive for the director, who is straight, to imply that being the victim of a sexual attack is all that’s needed to awaken a person’s homosexual feelings. It sends the wrong message, especially to people struggling with their sexual identity.

Other homoerotic aspects of the film include a fleeting kiss between Rien and Eef, and an early scene in Eef’s garage in which the three friends compare penis sizes as part of a discussion about who will be the first to bed Fientje.

The film’s instrumental score is laughably cheeseball, but the soundtrack does feature classic disco anthems by Blondie, Michael Jackson, and Iggy Pop.

Despite several shortcomings, “Spetters” is a powerful and engrossing film. Verhoeven isn’t working with the big bucks here that went into his subsequent Hollywood efforts like “Robocop,” “Total Recall” and “Basic Instinct.”

But he succeeds by depicting a realistic and hopeful coming-of-age story in the film’s first half, and a dark tragedy in the second.

Thankfully, cinematographer Jost Vacano gives dreary Rotterdam a halcyon glow, which is as hopeful and upbeat as the film’s ending.