It's a great movie, no doubt. But I had a hard time figuring out the ending.
The scene where his beaten father is portrayed writing a letter ("Please contact my deputy.. yours truly") and then he writes a name - Hoogavehtend Vader. Whose name is that? What's behind it and what that really meant?
Dreverhaven finally acknowledges that Katadreuffe is
his son. He does this by signing the letter with
"Hoogachtend, vader" (I don't recall the precise text),
but which approximately means, "yours sincerely, father".
Thank you!
So that part was "Your's sincerely, father". And I thought that's a name and surename.
Dreverhaven has always acknowledged that Katadreuffe was his son. Dreverhaven tried to marry Katadreuffe's mother many, many times but Katadreuffe's mother always said no.
What I believe the point of Dreverhaven writing out "Vader" is that is was meant as the familiar expressive that one in the US calls Dad. As to why it would basically take a life or death struggle to make Dreverhaven make such an acknowldgement, I belive that Dreverhaven, in his twisted logic, wanted his son to not only stand up to him through his rise to power, but he wanted his son to physically be unafraid of him on a very base level.
A physical reconciliation was the only method to actually bridge the gap between Dreverhaven's expectations of Katedreuffe's potential and Kattedreufe's neurosis over the overbearing father that had dominated him his whole life. Dreverhaven's acceptance of that reconciliation was deomonstrated by his deeding of his estated, after the fight, and then his committing suicide, thus giving Katadreuffe everything that he had worked his whole life to acquire.
*I always thought it was interesting that when Katadreuffe acquires Dreverhaven's estate, it would only be a short number of years before the naxis came and destroyed all of the life and possessions that Katadreuffe had worked so hard to amass. Perhaps it is a demonstration of the pointlessness of blind ambition and the possessions that one acquires from that abition.
No, vader is not the same as the english 'dad'. Vader is the more formal word for father. the dutch word for 'dad' would be 'papa', 'pap' or 'pa'
"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." - Sir Winston Churchill
But in this case the effect of him signing Vader, the effect is similar, since he would otherwise sign it with meneer so-and-so. The register shift is quite remarkable, and remember that he refused to acknowledge him when he was accidentally involved with the police as a yound lad.
shareYou mentioned (by mmelling77) - "I always thought it was interesting that when Katadreuffe acquires Dreverhaven's estate, it would only be a short number of years before the naxis came and destroyed all of the life and possessions that Katadreuffe had worked so hard to amass. Perhaps it is a demonstration of the pointlessness of blind ambition and the possessions that one acquires from that abition."
Where is that in the movie? What is the naxis (do you mean Nazis)? I just saw him inheriting 320,000 guilders and a listing of the properties. Was it mentioned that he would lose his possessions? Did it mention his future at all?
It's not in the movie. mmelling77 was thinking outside the movie of what was to come when the Nazis rose to power. I don't think that was intended by the author of the original book, considering it was published in 1938. But our own knowledge of history can add irony to the ending.
shareHe wrote 'hoogachtend, vader' which is dutch for 'yours sincerely, father/dad'
share