The great thing about Ruben Terlou’s new travel series is that he reduces geopolitical tensions to small, human dramas. In Ruben along the South China Sea (NPO2) by director Stefanie de Brouwer, he travels around the sea that contains important trade routes and which is increasingly claimed by China, to the dismay of Japan and Taiwan, for example. China is clearly the bogeyman in the series, but that is mainly because it is the largest. Other countries also dispute each other’s territories.
The travel series begins in the Philippines; they fall under the American sphere of influence, but they are increasingly feeling the hot breath of China, so then you immediately have two clashing superpowers. Terlouw keeps it small and tangible by sailing with the Filipino fisherman Floro to the Scarborough reef. Chinese naval vessels prevent the Philippines from fishing within this disputed atoll, so they have to eke out a living outside. Floro steers with his feet while sitting on a fishing net hammock. His wife goes to work in Hong Kong – about a thousand kilometers away – because he can no longer catch enough fish.
Terlou encounters a previous war when he visits Subic Bay, Philippines, where he encounters American Vietnam veterans. One of them, Dynamite Dick, has opened a café. His Filipino daughter is behind the bar. She doesn’t get a name in the travel series, but I suspect her name is Joy. In any case, the facade said ‘Richard & Joy’.
She is one of the many baby soldiers left behind by the Americans – she had to miss him for 26 years of her life, until he returned to his old army base. “I am lucky to know my father. Others never knew their father.” Now she can bring her father his beer on the terrace, but the traumatized Marine starts drinking at nine in the morning. She says: “He’s a grumpy old bastard but I love my dad. Because he’s my dad.”
Gherkin King
India – another hotspot. Tensions with neighboring countries China and Pakistan, compromise between superpowers Russia and the US. What will the pickle king make of it? In The Gherkin King in India (RTL4), pickles manufacturer Oos Kesbeke travels with his family to the country where many of his pickles come from. They visit a pickle plantation, a few factories, and receive a royal welcome everywhere.
Unlike Ruben Terlou, Oos Kesbeke is not a seasoned traveler who is interested in the culture he visits. According to the voice-over, Kesbeke already feels nauseous when he crosses the Amsterdam ring road. Until now, his reality program took place within the walls of his factory. So don’t expect to learn too much about the Indian pickles industry, let alone the country as a whole. This is a fish-out-of-bowl program similar to Frans Bauer in China.
The Kesbekes are horrified by stray cows on a market, laugh at the constant honking and fright of busy city traffic. Crossing a street and taking a tuk-tuk ride are blood-curdling adventures for them. “Crossing the road in Bangalore is a kind of Russian roulette,” says the pickle prince. Hahaha, what a strange country. I would like to laugh along, but secondhand shame arises. How would the Indian hosts view these Amsterdam provincials?
The journalistic principles of NRC