recommended

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Karst van der Meulen delivers his most 'mature' children's film yet, together with script writer Piet Geelhoed and the usual crew, as well as a cast of favorite grown ups (Lex Goudsmit, Leen Jongewaard, Joost Prinsen etc) and a lots of youthful first timers. Also returning are Bart Gabriëlse and Marieke Jacobs, two of the young stars from Van der Meulens' previous effort, "Martijn en de Magier". Albeit in supporting parts, for within two short years, both of them outgrew the age of requirement and are now given 'big brother and sister' parts. There are no fantasy elements this time around, though some of the plot developments are still rather far fetched. It does feature a great deal of social commentary, but presented in such a way that viewers of all ages can make up their own minds without having the character flaws spelled out to them.Erik and a group of friends all live in the same flat, except for Anja, who lives with her father across from them. The flat looks out over a group of campers, who's inhabitants (and their children) are a cause of concern to the parents of 'our gang' and the other inhabitants of the flat. One neighbor, Verschuur (Leen Jongewaard) has a particular dislike of the camper folks, especially since the eldest camper (Lex Goudsmit) has moved into the flat himself, because his old bones grew tired of sleeping in drafty vehicles. The parents are blissfully unaware it is in fact their own children who cause the most trouble. First by causing an accident while 'borrowing' Erik's older brother's motorbike, then by nicking all sorts of household objects from their folks to use in a musical they are secretly practicing to enter a competition. The parents, spurred on by child hater Verschuur, start holding meetings about the thefts and the suspicious camper folk.Up to this part, the story still seems quite plausible, if you don't count the children's extraordinary talents for song writing, playing instruments and rigging lights and sets without any adult help at all. Things become progressively less easy to swallow when we learn that all of their parents are planning a holiday together, traveling in, guess what? Campers. Anja's dad (Piet Römer), a lorry driver, even gets them a rig that will carry all the campers and save them a lot of money on the trip. Unfortunately, the most convoluted plot development yet (involving a leaky faucet) forces the truck driver to return home in haste, leaving all the campers stuck in the south of Holland instead of their intended destination, the south of France. There they are treated to a taste of their own medicine, as the townspeople react even worse to the 'camperfolks' invading their territory as the flat owners did themselves back home.While the conflict is brewing between the hapless campers and the suspicious townsfolk, the gang from whom the movie takes it's title sets about practicing their musical skills some more. Get this: they actually took the entire set (made up off the stolen household objects, remember) along on the trip, without their parents noticing! In the village, they bump into another group of youngsters, whom they immediately dislike. It soon becomes apparent that this bunch has been practicing to enter the very same musical competition, and have also been swiping all sorts of stuff from their own elders in order to do so. What is more, the cities kids' musical is all about yearning for the simple country life, while the village children sing about wanting to move to town.Finally it comes down to a confrontation between the townsfolk and city dwellers, both young and old. Of course the youngsters decide to settle their differences in a more civilized way. They stage a battle of the bands. On the other hand, if they had only been honest with their parents, there wouldn't have been so much animosity between the groups to begin with. Typically, Karst and Piet refrain from taking sides. The viewer is left to make up his/her own mind as to which side is better: the townspeople, the village folk, grown ups or children. My only gripe is that it will take a couple of viewings to tell all of the main children from one another. There are just too many of them to run around. It is far simpler to distinguish between the grown ups, of course, as most of them were very familiar in the seventies and eighties. This makes 'De Bende van Hiernaast' a great nostalgic trip for viewers who actually remember those decades, while offering those viewers children an enjoyable afternoon that might even have them pick up some things about prejudice (without pointing a finger at it).7 out of 10