Occupied City comes from British director Steve McQueen known for his films Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Widows, and more. He returns to Cannes after winning the Golden Camera for Hunger - an award for best 1st feature - with a 4hr long documentary about the Occupying forces of the Nazi regime in Amsterdam over the span of World War 2. As a 20+ year-long resident of the city himself, he manages to frame these morbid stories of WWII with present-day Amsterdam, literally all over the town.
The movie’s visuals consist of shots during the COVID lockdown in 2020 with a VO narrative detailing countless stories of terror during the Occupation.
Starting with a name, their story, and - in most cases - their death.
Closing each location is a short statement that lets you know if the building has since been ‘demolished’ and rebuilt or still standing. Regardless, McQueen makes a point that these stories a deeply a part of Amsterdam but the city has recovered, and rebuild. It’s become a home again.
Narratively, this is done in segments that focus on a location shown to us in the current day (roughly 2020-22) and is somewhat loosely connected to what the narrator says. More often than not, this is an effective contrast to the harsh and morbid nature of the ethnic cleansing Amsterdam was undergoing and the film is overall a very detailed history lesson that manages to give the victims a place to be remembered. In art. Which I admire, but I also believe works better in an Art gallery or museum setting. Hopefully, this film, broken down into dozens of smaller bits, and continually looped at an exhibition, will play out a bit better than its pretty rough 4hr+ runtime allows it for.
Without driving an overarching narrative across, the doc often feels like a stream lacking a flow. It has stunning individual sequences, a stand-out moment comes to mind where we zoom across the streets of Amsterdam as the camera rolls around and turns the world on its head. The sky blends into the water and reflects Amsterdam's nightscape of narrow houses.
The moments from the 2020s sometimes feel out of place, even if I get what McQueen goes for it doesn’t always come together
Ultimately, this is a very personal love letter addressed to the city of Amsterdam handwritten by the one and only Steve McQueen. I wouldn’t recommend a theatre watch, but break it apart into pieces over a few nights and you’ll be fine and hopefully not too bored with the very repetitive storytelling.
My rating for Occupied City is a 7/10, and a warm recommendation to visit Amsterdam yourself. It’s a great town that evidentially has a lot of history.
Demolished.
