THE STORY – In the spring of 1999, Belgian entrepreneurs Luc and Geert learn that their network of shell companies is about to be exposed in the international press. An emergency board meeting is called. Evidence must be destroyed; and discretion enforced. By tomorrow morning, the police will be at the door. After this final meeting, the two men go their separate ways, entering their last day as free, rich and powerful men. Luc, the technical genius, retreats to his villa, where he gets the impression that his wife Alma has known all along what has been going on. Repeatedly unable to reach Geert, his trusted partner, Luc grows increasingly uneasy. Meanwhile Geert, the charismatic salesman, seeks refuge in the arms of his driver and lover inside his bunker-like villa. Having insider knowledge, Geert is tempted to act – but doing so would mean betraying those closest to him. Luc heads back to the company HQ but, in the middle of a violent storm, his car gets stuck in the mud. When Geert discovers the abandoned vehicle, panic sets in. Slowly, they realise that they are not actually on the run but on a journey towards something they can no longer avoid: responsibility. And each other.
THE CAST – Arieh Worthalter, Jan Hammenecker, Thibaud Dooms & Anthony Welsh
THE TEAM – Anke Blondé (Director) & Angelo Tijssens (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 115 Minutes
Internationally, particularly on the festival circuit, Belgian cinema is most frequently associated with the kitchen-sink realism of the Dardenne Brothers, the sometimes extreme arthouse stylings of Chantal Akerman, and the madcap visions of Jaco Van Dormael (whose most recent work, “The Brand New Testament,” comedically depicted God as a grumpy sadist living in an apartment in Brussels). And yet, the country also has a tradition of thrillers and thriller-adjacent dramas, especially on the Flemish side, and that’s where something like Anke Blondé’s confidently thrilling “Dust” comes into play.
Set in 1999, the same year Michael Mann took on the tobacco industry with the fact-based “The Insider,” this film also deals with the shady behind-the-scenes details of a big industry. Specifically, we’re in the tech world and a Belgian company, while reasonably concerned about the then-looming threat of Y2K, is revolutionizing the market with its new speech-to-text software (ironically, given the content, the screening this writer attended had occasionally faulty subtitles). Everything seems to be going perfectly for the wealthy entrepreneurs behind this new dawn, Luc (Jan Hammenecker) and Geert (Arieh Worthalter).
Then, while they’re taking a leak at an event celebrating their achievements, they’re approached by a journalist who reveals he knows the uncomfortable truth: the two business partnershave cooked the books for years via a network of shell companies, and an exposé on that subject is about to run in the international press. In little over a day (it’s the weekend), Luc and Geert will be in jail, their company’s credibility a thing of the past (with the board of directors trying to wash their hands of the whole mess), and the fallout will be disastrous for the many Belgians who acquired stock based on a pervasive, highly effective nationwide marketing campaign (as stated on more than one occasion, the duo’s media exposure was ridiculously extensive).
The time has come, then, to shred as many documents as possible – for make no mistake, these guys are very, very guilty – and, if circumstances allow for it, settle any outstanding unfinished business (Luc spends the bulk of the film trying to reach his estranged daughter). This is where the real drama starts, as it becomes clear that years of friendship and professional partnership don’t matter much in the long run: Geert, the more business-savvy of the two, takes off on his own, while Luc, the tech genius who was promoted to an executive position but remains a bit of a social outsider (basically, imagine a version of “Jurassic Park” where Dennis Nedry wasn’t a backstabbing opportunist and became the face of InGen alongside John Hammond), tries to get in touch with him before it’s too late. Not the easiest thing to do in a time when cell phones were not so smart, and GPS had not yet come.
The film runs along at a steady pace, but at the same time, it knows when to pause and give its characters room to breathe. It’s as much a thriller of the soul as it is an actual thriller about financial malfeasance, and it truly shines when the two leads take in just how badly they have messed things up: Geert, the calculating smooth-talker, is also a closeted gay man, enjoying some quieter moments with a lover he might never see again; Luc, always a bit awkward at the big shindigs, is actually better suited for talking with the working class shareholders who are about to lose everything (French-speaking character actor Fabrizio Rongione cameos as a disgruntled farmer).
There are, ultimately, no major surprises in store, despite what the two protagonists may have initially deluded themselves into thinking about their future. The genre tropes are all present and accounted for. Blondé’s eye for mood and tension makes for a very engaging couple of hours in the Belgian countryside, where bucolic bliss turns into a rainy Hell for everyone involved, almost as if to wash away the company’s misdeeds. The final destination is a very recognizable one, but getting there is quite the entertaining journey, be it driving along the silent country roads or, at one point, desperately wading through mud while loudly cursing in Flemish.
