The Vanishing (1988)
The Vanishing is one of those films that I just love. The plot is simple, the cast is minimal, there is no superficial action or violence, and yet it's effect is powerful and significant.
Without ruining anything, I can tell you that Rex and his love interest, Seskia, are going on a road trip. Soon after, Seskia is abducted. I can tell you this because the film uses "what you know" as a method of building suspense. It works in a way I found very interesting and I recall an overwhelming sense of dread during the entirety of the film's first 25 minutes.
The remainder of the film is a meditation on the obsession of two men, Rex and Seskia's abductor. Rex hopes to find the whereabouts of his missing friend, now gone for three years. He plasters fliers all over the city and is the guest on television shows. He is unable to form a new love relationship because of his endless desire to know just what happened to Seskia.
The abductor becomes aware of Rex and his efforts to find the truth. With the same intensity, the abductor actually begins to follow Rex. This leads to a relationship which ends so dramatically that my stomach began to ache and I wanted the film to end. Please note, this is not because of graphic or sexual violence. Director George Sluizer was able to accomplish a level of true climatic suspense without having to blow things up or cut things off.
It appears that Sluizer has actually directed an American remake of this film for $20 million dollars, ten times the amount of its Dutch predecessor. While I haven't seen it, I find it hard to believe that this kind of film could exist in the Hollywood machine. It is not a necessarily fun ride. It does not have a Disney ending. But what it does have is tenacity, integrity, and an unflinching desire to stare into the eyes of the things we fear most. Isolation. Ignorance. Pain and suffering. Perhaps by reflecting on these qualities, we may be better apt to avoid them in our every day life.
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