Hiding in Holland

Summary

Hiding in Holland is a startling precursor to the modern 'paparazzo' ethos, a kinetic exercise in historical voyeurism that captures the liminal space between sovereignty and ignominy. The film documents the surreptitious transit of the former Crown Prince Hohenzollern of Germany as he traverses the pastoral indifference of the Netherlands following the seismic collapse of the Central Powers. Rather than a staged hagiography, the production relies on a clandestine methodology: a cameraman, physically sequestered within the cramped confines of a nondescript cart, peers through the slats to capture the unvarnished reality of a man whose world has just been dismantled. This is a study in displacement, where the rigid geometry of Prussian militarism is forced to navigate the fluid, windswept dikes of a neutral neighbor. The lens serves as both a predator and a silent witness, documenting the mundane moments of a royal exile—the adjusted coat, the weary gait, the flicker of recognition that the era of the divine right of kings has been replaced by the gritty, hand-cranked reality of the twentieth century. It is a film of shadows and hidden angles, transforming a simple journey into a profound meditation on the fragility of power and the relentless gaze of the newly emerging media age.

Synopsis

A supposedly verity film for which a cameraman hid in a cart in order to follow unobserved (but observing) the former Crown Prince Hohenzollern of Germany as he traveled through Holland after the First World War.