For ten years, Michael Leendertse brooded on a drama series about the planecrash in the Bijlmer. It resulted in a multimillion-dollar project that willbe on television on Thursday. ‘During my research I had goosebumps up to myneck.’
Hanneke van HouwelingenSeptember 26, 202214:31
It starts to drizzle at the monument where 43 victims of the Bijlmer disasterare commemorated. Screenwriter Michael Leendertse hides under ‘the tree thatsaw everything’, a sturdy poppy that survived the plane crash and wasnicknamed because of the eye-shaped pattern on its bark.
It will be thirty years ago on October 4, in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, that anIsraeli plane crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg gallery flats.Half of the Netherlands sat with the board on their lap in front of the TV andsaw how Studio Sport was interrupted for an inserted news with Gijs Wanders.Leendertse was ten years old, living in Zwijndrecht. “I remember that mymother called my aunt in Amstelveen very emotional. Was she still alive?Something terrible had happened in Amsterdam. Later that evening we saw theimages of burning flats in the Bijlmer and the despair of the residents. Thatmade such an impression.”
Victim Support
Near the memorial, a large part of his drama series disaster flight_Hospitalized. The set – with debris, ‘wounded’ and ambulances driving back andforth – seemed so lifelike that Victim Support was ready to assist residentsof the Bijlmer if necessary. “Of course that is very sensitive, but theresidents we spoke to also said: if our story is told, then preferably here,”says the screenwriter, known for series such as _From God Lose , Feuten and_Flying Dutchmen_.
The five-part series follows the young veterinarian Asha from the Bijlmermeerand two journalists from competing newspapers, who go in search of answers.After the disaster, there was great uncertainty about the contents of the – asit turned out later – military aircraft, the missing black box and theunexplained health complaints of survivors. Men in white suits were spotted inthe rubble. Who were they? All those questions led to conspiracy theories. Itwas not until six years later, in 1998, that a parliamentary inquiry was held.
“All the great events in this series are true. You can find that on Google.But it remains a dramatized interpretation of reality,” Leendertse emphasizesa few times.
Goosebumps
For example, the vet is a fictional character, an amalgamation of variousinhabitants of the Bijlmer that he spoke to. His research spanned ten years.At that time, he read everything about the disaster, spoke to relatives andformer politicians, but also retired journalist Vincent Dekker from Fidelity, who got into the case and on whom one of the characters is based. “During myconversations with Vincent, I had goosebumps on my neck. He talked about theinternational interests of the Netherlands, Israel and America to cover upthis accident – I say deliberately accident, it was not a conspiracy. At onepoint, he found a pack of Israeli brand cigarettes in his yard. Was the secretservice Mossad monitoring his work or was he getting paranoia?”
After a walk through the former disaster area – the Klein-Kruitberg galleryflat was completely demolished and is now part of the park – Leendertsesettled down at a halal butcher, which also functions as a community centerannex coffee shop. Over a cup of steaming coffee: “Despite all the research, Istill remain an outsider in this multicultural district.”
While writing the script, he asked for help from Joy Delima (28), a Rotterdamactress and writer with roots in Suriname and Curaçao. “She was not yet bornwhen the disaster took place, but because of her origin she knows much betterhow Surinamese and Antillean people feel about life than I do as a white man.Because of her input, her character Asha came to life.”
special effects
Except for the drama series disaster flight the KRO-NCRV also releases adocumentary, podcast and a digital reconstruction with the same title. The TVseries cost millions of euros. This was partly due to the special specialeffects, which – as far as we know – have not been used before in theNetherlands. For example, the scenes of the parliamentary inquiry were shot infront of giant LED screens that run completely around the set and rotate withthe camera. The big difference with the well-known green screens is thatactors are in the middle of a digital environment, which looks lifelike andspectacular.
In recent years, Leendertse has done so much research that he probably couldhave made a documentary, but he preferred to make a thriller series in whichfact and fiction are mixed. “That gives me more room to choose a perspective.For me, this series is not only about the plane crash, but also about theNetherlands today. In thirty years, the gap between politics and citizens hasnot narrowed: just look at the gas drilling in Groningen or the allowanceaffair in which citizens are still seen as numbers. They are not heard,because larger, often economic, interests are involved. The system fails timeand again.”
If the viewer pulls out that deeper layer, that’s a bonus, he says. “Iespecially hope that the viewer will soon say: what a fat, gripping cover-upthriller. Then my mission is really successful.”
Disaster flight can be seen daily from Thursday 29 September at KRO-NCRV at9.30 pm on NPO1.