AllMovie

Quick-paced and sobering, this docudrama focuses on a tragedy that occurred in the 1890s in northern Holland. Those were desperate times, and a harsh winter did nothing to alleviate starvation and the consequent looting of foodstuffs. Farmers -- who were better off than the rest of their compatriots -- in particular were the target of looters, so when three masked men broke into the home of one such farmer, it was not exactly an unexpected occurrence. Two men were wounded by gunfire, and in a bogus trial, three brothers were convicted of the crime even though it was clear they were far from the scene at that time. A scorned lover of one of the brothers was only too happy to lie and testify against them. Feelings ran so high that even when the schoolmaster proved they could not have committed the crime, and after new evidence established the guilt of the real perpetrators, the legal system refused to reconsider the case against the brothers.