If you are Dutch and know Bangkok well, this a series you want to watch. The effort of Knippenberg against the directions of his superiors are most commendable and deserve all the praise they can get. The whole story however could do with at least two episodes less.
In the old days in any movie everyone spoke English, e.g. In war movies with Germans. Gradually this has changed to the better and actors are chosen of the same nationality they depict, speaking their own language. This is where this series confuses. The actor for the Dutchman Knippenberg is not Dutch, although he speaks a few hard to understand lines of the language. It becomes bizarre when he converses in English with his countryman the ambassador. The French of the girlfriend (played by a Canadian actress) is totally insufficient and also strange when she and her French boyfriend speak mostly English together.
Some technical issues also raise eyebrows. How likely is it that in 1976 you can dial directly from a public phone in a hotel lobby in Kathmandu to a number in Paris? In those years I have waited for hours in more developed countries for a connection. The cars with the right hand steering wheel in Paris show that attention for detail has slipped.
And finally one of the most annoying things: the constant smoking. Every scene is started with lighting up a cigarette and almost no one is ever seen without one. It almost seems like the tobacco industry sponsored the series.
In the old days in any movie everyone spoke English, e.g. In war movies with Germans. Gradually this has changed to the better and actors are chosen of the same nationality they depict, speaking their own language. This is where this series confuses. The actor for the Dutchman Knippenberg is not Dutch, although he speaks a few hard to understand lines of the language. It becomes bizarre when he converses in English with his countryman the ambassador. The French of the girlfriend (played by a Canadian actress) is totally insufficient and also strange when she and her French boyfriend speak mostly English together.
Some technical issues also raise eyebrows. How likely is it that in 1976 you can dial directly from a public phone in a hotel lobby in Kathmandu to a number in Paris? In those years I have waited for hours in more developed countries for a connection. The cars with the right hand steering wheel in Paris show that attention for detail has slipped.
And finally one of the most annoying things: the constant smoking. Every scene is started with lighting up a cigarette and almost no one is ever seen without one. It almost seems like the tobacco industry sponsored the series.