NO MAN'S LAND | ABOUT THE FILM
The film NO MAN'S LAND tells the true story of Arthur Knaap (Timothy Flohr), a Dutch-Indonesian young man who joins the foreign legion during Wold War I and enters trench warfare. From those trenches Arthur wrote letters home. Letters filled with his emotions, stories of struggle and the spirit of the time.
These letters served as a basis for the scenario.
Arthur was a young man who thought that the war was an adventure. He was in love with Paris and with his young girlfriend.
He was a true familyman and found it was his duty to fight for his beloved France. Het was wroth about the lack of involvement of the Netherlands in this war. In the letters he sent home you can unmistakably read the disappointment and the fears that came along with it.
Due to the extreme circumstances at the front Arthur projects into adulthood in a very short period of time. After the war Arthur is no longer the person he was. Because of inhaling poisonous gas he gets a lungdisease which is fatal to him in 1938, when the world is on the eve of the next war.
Extract from a letter:
“2nd of June 1915
Dear mom and dad,
Yesterday I received your letters for my birthday. I've read and re-read them and I cried a little at night.
It is terrible to know that your father is ill and may not be able to take care of himself, that your mother is troubled and that both of them have so many worries and so little money. That is more terrible than seeing the ruines and the falling of comrades. An I blame myself (now that all has passed) that my last letter was filled with me nagging about graves of soldiers etc.
Forgive me mom and dad, but it was because we got orders to attack and in that case......"
These letters served as a basis for the scenario.
Arthur was a young man who thought that the war was an adventure. He was in love with Paris and with his young girlfriend.
He was a true familyman and found it was his duty to fight for his beloved France. Het was wroth about the lack of involvement of the Netherlands in this war. In the letters he sent home you can unmistakably read the disappointment and the fears that came along with it.
Due to the extreme circumstances at the front Arthur projects into adulthood in a very short period of time. After the war Arthur is no longer the person he was. Because of inhaling poisonous gas he gets a lungdisease which is fatal to him in 1938, when the world is on the eve of the next war.
Extract from a letter:
“2nd of June 1915
Dear mom and dad,
Yesterday I received your letters for my birthday. I've read and re-read them and I cried a little at night.
It is terrible to know that your father is ill and may not be able to take care of himself, that your mother is troubled and that both of them have so many worries and so little money. That is more terrible than seeing the ruines and the falling of comrades. An I blame myself (now that all has passed) that my last letter was filled with me nagging about graves of soldiers etc.
Forgive me mom and dad, but it was because we got orders to attack and in that case......"
