by Clarke Fountain
synopsis
Unlike the reclusive J.D. Salinger, who has never allowed any of his stories or novels to be made into movies, this 1947 Dutch novel, which was to the same generation of youngsters growing up in the Netherlands what The Catcher In The Rye was for Americans, was made into a well-appreciated film in 1989. In the story, Fritz van Egters (Thom Hoffman) has already flunked out of college, and is suffering through a boring office job. He still lives at home with his tiresomely doctrinaire communist parents, and has a set of friends who don't do much to excite interest either. The time period of the film is Fritz's Christmas to New Year's holiday break, during which he seeks to find some escape from the tedium of his life.
