Spetters

This film was a scandal in the Netherlands. It opened on 17 December 1980 and drew fire for putting explicit sex, full nudity, a gang rape, homosexuality, disability and working-class collapse on the screen at once. Critics called it morally bankrupt and accused it of misogyny, homophobia, anti-Christian sentiment and callousness toward disabled people. Groups including the National Youth Action Committee organised protests, and there was talk of prosecuting Verhoeven. The story follows three young motocross riders and the mobile snack-bar owner who sets them against each other. Hans van Tongeren, Renée Soutendijk, Toon Agterberg and Maarten Spanjer star. One of them is paralysed in a racing crash, and the film shows no mercy from that point on. The reaction redirected Verhoeven's career. He made one more film in the Netherlands and then left for Hollywood. Who it is for: viewers who want Verhoeven at his pre-American harshest, in a brutal youth film about class and the body. Who it is not for: anyone who cannot sit through sexual violence. The film holds that scene long and does not protect the audience.