“It went well at first, but after a few kilometers it was tough. A tough mountain,” he describes the trip. Wouter Taal had it a lot easier. “We were able to follow it with the car. We have been to the top many times. Every now and then we walked along with the cameras.”
He is a documentary maker at Time to Speak. He followed the group to record their story. Who are they, why are they at Oranjeborg and what can the mountain do for them? “The approach for the documentary is that we follow six participants who climb the Ventoux by walking and cycling,” he says. “They not only tell what they experience along the way, but also what they have experienced along the way in their lives to get to the top. By bundling those stories, together with the perspective from healthcare provision, we really try to create a picture of how we dealing with those people in the Netherlands. That should give the public food for thought.”
The assignment to make the documentary came from Henk Stokvis, director of Oranjeborg. “We wanted to capture this. This will be unforgettable. The parallel process between the mountain and the lives of our guests.”
The film will be shown five times on the big screen in Meppel. Every time Stokvis asks the main actors to stand in the audience for a moment. They receive loud applause again and again.
The six tell the story of their lives. “Coupled with the heaviness of that mountain. Sometimes it is no longer possible,” Stokvis continues. He himself also climbed the mountain. “Halfway through I really felt like: I can’t go any further, I don’t want to do it anymore. You have to get over that. Those boys did that. Very clever. They are the boys who generally have difficulty withstanding resistance. With With a lot of support, we all went up that mountain together.” They all made it to the top, at an altitude of 1910 meters.
The audience watches the documentary with their mouths open. Stokvis calls it a fantastic film. “It does something to the people when I look into the room,” he says.
At the same time, he sees that there is more understanding for the residents of Oranjeborg. That’s exactly what he hoped for beforehand. Mostly men with an intellectual disability, often with an addiction background and a psychiatric problem. “Care in the Netherlands is not really designed for that. You are either mentally disabled, or addicted or you have a psychiatric problem. But all of that together, there is little attention for that.”
The residents have come a long way to get life back on track. “If you end up in the gutter, get out of there. It’s important that you come out with pride.” He gets that back from the six protagonists and all the other residents who walked upstairs. They are all proud of themselves, and of each other. “That’s the best part.”
Rodensio is definitely proud. He saw the documentary for the first time a few weeks ago. “When I heard that we were going to see it in the big cinema, I was a bit nervous. But I think I did a good job.”
The documentary, that one I can do it, PERIOD! is called, is voiced by Gio Lippens. The idea is to hold some festivals where the film will be shown. “If this lands – and we will see that today – then I think it should also land. And more people should have the opportunity to see it. I will give ourselves a year for that. To draw attention to it .”