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The Long Holiday

Name: The Long Holiday
Director: Johan van der Keuken
Released: 2000
Duration: 145 min

Representation Score

8.3/10

Excellent

2000

Director

Johan van der Keuken

Runtime

145 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

The Long Holiday is a meditative travelogue that reframes a terminal diagnosis as a catalyst for global exploration. It successfully de-centers the Western subject by seeking meaning in Buddhist practices and West African communities. While the film excels in racial and cultural pluralism, it remains limited in its depiction of gender and LGBTQ+ identities. The focus remains largely on the director's personal spiritual journey. Ultimately, the work provides a sophisticated deconstruction of Western approaches to mortality, using chronic illness as a tool for profound cross-cultural connection.

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Category Breakdown

Does The Long Holiday have LGBTQ+ representation?

Fair

The film does not explicitly depict LGBTQ+ identities or narratives. It maintains a neutral stance typical of observational documentaries from this period.

How does The Long Holiday portray gender?

Fair

Female figures, such as a healer in Kathmandu, offer essential wisdom and specialized knowledge. This presence challenges the cliché of the male protagonist as the sole agent.

How racially and ethnically diverse is The Long Holiday?

Excellent

The documentary centers non-Western subjects in Kathmandu, Burkina Faso, and Mali. It avoids a tourist gaze by positioning these communities as primary sources of meaning and healing.

How does The Long Holiday represent religion and culture?

Excellent

The narrative prioritizes non-Western spiritualities and local healing traditions over Western institutional frameworks. It explores mortality through a pluralistic lens rather than singular religious dogma.

Does The Long Holiday include disability representation?

Good

Prostate cancer is portrayed through a lens of ability to act rather than pity. The illness serves as a catalyst for philosophical inquiry and creative endeavor rather than a deficit.

Present on Screen

Engages with diverse racial and ethnic communities in West Africa and the Himalayas.
Offers a nuanced portrayal of terminal illness that emphasizes ability to act and philosophical inquiry.
Effectively de-centers Western perspectives by prioritizing non-Western spiritualities and healing traditions.

Limited or Absent

Lacks explicit representation or narrative focus regarding LGBTQ+ identities.
Limited depth in gender representation, primarily relying on specific female figures for specialized knowledge.

Official Synopsis

After the famous Dutch documentary filmmaker Johan van der Keuken is told that he has prostate cancer and only a few years left to live he decides to take an extended vacation while filming his journeys so the afterworld can learn about his experiences. He travels to Kathmandu where he meets buddhist monks and a healer woman who soon is trying to medicate him, to Burkina Faso and Mali onto the edge of the Sahara desert and other places. Everywhere he is collecting experiences that help make the rest of his life bearable.

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