The Silent Army

The Silent Army (2008)

Wit Licht

A Father. A Missing Child. A Mission.

Eduard Zuiderwijk (Marco Borsato) runs a restaurant in Africa. When his wife (Ricky Koole) suddenly dies, he is left to take care of his son Thomas (Siebe Schoneveld) on his own. When his son's best friend Abu (Andrew Kintu) is abducted by a rebel leader to be trained as a child soldier, Eduard goes in pursuit to save the boy and regain his son's respect.

Date of release
2008-12-11
TMDB
5.5 / 10 (24)
Runtime
1h 55m
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Director
Jean van de Velde

Casting

Interesting facts

The Silent Army is a recut, international version of the 2008 Dutch drama film Wit Licht directed by Jean van de Velde about the hardships of child soldiers in Africa. It marks the acting debut of singer Marco Borsato. On December 29, 2008, it was reported that, despite bad reviews, the film had received a gold certification. More than 100,000 people went to see the film in two weeks time. In April 2009, it was announced that the film would be shown at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Production

The idea for the film originated with singer Marco Borsato, who is an ambassador for the non-profit organisation War Child Holland. After hearing stories from former child soldiers who had been through War Child Holland's programmes, Borsato became interested in initiating a film inspired by these stories. Together with his manager Paul Brinks, he decided that making a movie would be good for his career.

The film was recorded on location; first in Uganda, then in South Africa.

After the movie had a big release in the Netherlands, French critic and movie director Pierre Rissient saw it and thought Wit Licht could do well internationally if it were recut drastically. Rissient cut out many Dutch scenes, took away the music, changed the ending and made the movie more suitable for arthouse audiences. This resulted in an invitation for the Un Certain Regard program at the Cannes Festival.

A majority of the film was shot in Port Saint Johns on the east of the Wild Coast. Its natural beauty and the abandoned airport on the top of a local mountain were the main reasons this location was chosen. During the shoot over 1400 locals were enlisted as extras to aid the 150 cast and crew. Early on during shooting in South Africa, a house which was used as a sleeping place by crew was attacked. Since then, extra security has been on the set.

Shooting was also done in Uganda in an area where a war just ended and a peace treaty wasn't yet signed. Hundreds of people who experienced this war were extras. Borsato said: "The tension on their faces is real. We also filmed in refugee camps. That gives the film authenticity. It is suspenseful and touching, a real story."

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

Recommended