Guus Oster

Twelve year old 'Boefje' spends most of his time in the alleys, on rooftops and in the harbor of Rotterdam. A local clergyman takes pity on him and attempts to teach him good manners.

Erik is trying to avoid the Nazi occupants and stay out of the hands of the Germans. Instead he is trying to be in Elly's arms.

After her mother -- a prostitute -- is murdered by her father, Sien is raised by her grandparents. Instead of a bourgeois life with grocer's son Gerrit van Buren, she chooses for an adventurous life with toutman Jan Meier. She follows him and becomes a revue artist in an Amsterdam cabaret, until her father comes to see her...

In WWII Netherlands, resistance-leader Arie is killed by Dutch SS-man Niels, leaving his comrades, who pledge to avenge him. 35 years later, one of them, Ab, confronted with Niels again, decides to round up his old friends to kill him but they're no longer as devoted. Only former communist Gerben has stuck by his pledge and joins the execution.

The story of three torn apart families on the verge of Sinterklaasavond, the Dutch equivalent of Christmas Eve.

Worried about the ‘declining morals’ of 1950s Amsterdam, taxi driver Piet Amstel decides to emigrate to Australia. The government drive to build atomic shelters and the incessant Dutch rain only strengthen his purpose, as Amstel figures sunny Australia would make a positive change for his family. But first he needs to bring his daughter and her criminal boyfriend back on the right path.

A secret document, a stolen dress suit, two dimwitted crooks, the love of a man for a woman. It all results in a roller coaster ride for a young insurance agent.

“Ciske de Rat” belongs to the Dickensean “little man’s hard life” model and tells a deceptively simple story about a boy in modern Netherlands. Persecution, loneliness, adults’ hostility, fear, mixture of obstinacy and tenderness, and even an imprisonment. Excellent camera movement and delicate portraying of Ciske’s fragile soul put this film out of merely historical context and ensure its place in the history of great cinema.