Drawing on previously unpublished interviews, journals, family film footage, archival material and propaganda films, Luuk Bouwman’s The Propagandist tracks the rise and fall of the Dutch filmmaker Jan Teunissen, with particular focus on his time as head of the Dutch Nazi Party’s film department during World War II.
Seemingly relishing his self-proclaimed title of ‘Film Czar’ during the war, Teunissen was a clearly complex character, joining both the Dutch Nazi party (the NSB) as well as the SS, all in the pursuit of greater control of the film sector within that period. After the war, Teunissen was prosecuted and punished, but in interviews he continued to boast of his shrewdness and connections with the upper echelons of the Nazi regime.
Bouwman’s archive-heavy film looks to present a portrait of the man and his motivations, as well as dwelling on the boundaries between film and propaganda. The film material – both family footage and newsreel and propaganda material from the time – is absorbing, the filmmaker presenting his film largely in black-and-white (although there is a short dash of colour with footage from a politically dubious Dutch animation film made at the time) to help blend new interviews with old films.
The film opens with an extract from an audio interview with Teunissen in 1964. “Every film has a message. It’s always been like that. Shakespeare also has a message, often a political one…Film was the most powerful means of propaganda there was. What television is today, in a sense. In this case it was, often in guarded terms…a National Socialist message.” Asked if he thought it was a dangerous tool, he says: “I thought it was good. The other side can rightly claim it was dangerous. Not for me… I got to decide what was shown in cinemas. I was the Film Czar,” he adds with a laugh.
The recordings come from an audio-history project set up by historian Rolf Schuursma, which much forms the backbone of the documentary. “He looked just normal. He didn’t look like a fascist, whatever a fascist looks like,” says Schuursma, who interviewed Teunissen a number of times in 1964 and 1965, ultimately recording seven hours of tape.
Coming from a very wealthy background meant Teunissen was able to pursue his aspirations as a filmmaker early in life. He talks about being obsessed with film, with the documentary quickly cutting to archive footage of Geulzicht Castle, Teunissen’s country estate where he filmed his children, wife and friends. In 1931 he made one of the first Dutch sound films, The Barrel Organ, but after his lush period film William of Orange (1934) he was heavily criticised and found himself on the sidelines, often editing films made by émigré filmmakers who had escaped Germany.
After the German occupation he was keen to get back to filmmaking – he says the country had “capitulated” so it was okay to work with the Germans – and received support from the NDB to make Dutch films. (In an audio interview, Dutch filmmaker Reinier Meijer says he thought Teunissen didn’t join the Nazis because he needed the money, but because he was obsessed with film.)
Soon Teunissen became head of the Dutch Nazi Party Film Service (cue ominous drums on the soundtrack) and started to make short propaganda films largely based around farmers and land, heroes and folklore. After Himmler visited the country he joined the SS. “I had many uniforms,” he says, and describing the political machinations from a position of comfort adds, “I loved it – everyone was doing it.”
He was involved on director Egbert Van Putten’s racist colour animated film Reynard the Fox, about a rhinoceros threatening the animal kingdom. As historian Egbert Barten points out (via extracts) the Rhino happens to be named Judocus and is animated wearing a caftan and a Jewish yarmulke. When asked about the persecution of the Jews, Teunissen says that it was a “very unfortunate affair,” adding it was a “German problem”.
His son and step-son both died fighting for Germany on the Eastern front, and when the country was liberated he says he knew there would be reprisals, so he waited at home “for them to come and get me”. But despite spending time on death row, he betrays no sense of self-reflection in Schuursma’s audio interview, adding that he acted humble to try and have his sentence reduced. In his own mind he still seemed to be convinced he did nothing wrong during the war, adding “all I did was fight for myself. I just wanted a decent life and I wanted to make films.”
An arrogant egotist driven by a love of cinema or a malicious fascist who took any chance he could to rise to the top? Luuk Bouwman has constructed a thoughtful and absorbing film, packed with well-chosen and archival footage, allowing the audience to dwell on the role of propaganda (and propagandists) and the manipulative power of the moving image.
Netherlands, 2024, 112mins
Dir: Luuk Bouwman
Production: Docmakers
International sales: Film Harbour
Producer: Ilja Roomans
Scr: Luuk Bouwman, Rik Binnendijk
Cinematography: Lieke van den Ouwelant
Editor: Sander Vos
Music: Mathilde Wantenaar, Tijmen van Tol
With: Rolf Schuursma, Egbert Barten
