De Grote Vakantie

When Johan van der Keukan learned that he had terminal cancer he set out to chronicle his final days and, having secured funding from a variety of companies, started travelling to see parts of the world that interested him or searching some sort of healing. What results from these endless months of filming is a series of short documentaries, linked by narrative that is part travelogue and part candid diary of a dying man.

The thought of a documentary over two hours long about a man's last months hardly fills one with enthusiasm, but this is an incredible and often very moving film. Using both film and video (he wanted to learn how to use the video cameras before he became too weak to use the film) to chart his adventures, he treks to locations including Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Brazil and New York. Here he records the people, muses on life and politics, attends film festivals (where he meets up with friends and colleagues who he has not yet told about his illness) and receives both good and highly dubious medical attention.

De Grote Vakantie is a very intimate portrait of both Johan as he catalogues his ailments and shares his fears, as well as his beloved partner Nosh whose painful composure throughout is admirable especially in the palpable and strained tensions of imminent pain and death.

This is a true one-off of a film and whilst there is a slight air of voyeurism, Johan van der Keukan has recorded much more than an archive of his final days. Life-affirming and showing his hunger for new topics, even as he feels his body begin to fail him, this film registers van der Keukan's joy at the beauty and discontent at the troubles of the world he is sure he will shortly be leaving behind. The only significant exception to his graceful acceptance of his situation comes only in the final and strange half hour of the film.

One of the most brave and unique documentary projects, it leaves you in awe of its selfless creator and his generous family.