A loving conversation between a self-proclaimed ‘wappie’ and a faith leaver ★★★☆☆

Due to the growing number of conspiracy thinkers, made possible in part by platforms like QAnon and even fanatics in the House of Representatives, we all know someone these days who sees a conspiracy in everything. Director Hanna van Mourik Broekman had conversations with people about what their ideal world looks like and came across singer and self-proclaimed ‘wappie’ Simoon de Wit. She believes that the ‘elite’ is a satanic network of pedophiles, that corona is a hoax and Trump is our savior. Van Mourik Broekman decided to let De Wit’s almost dogmatic conviction clash with the worldview of artist and theater maker André Joosten, who has fallen from his Catholic faith.

In a reconstruction of their encounters in recent months, in the middle of a moving planetarium around which the audience sits, we see how Joosten and De Wit try to get closer to each other. Despite the predictable outcome, director Van Mourik Broekman creates with the brave De Wit and the sensitive Joosten in A cosmic encounter a loving and at times exciting dialogue.

Intimacy and humanity predominate in this orchestrated collision, in which Van Mourik Broekman occasionally acts as moderator. The director slowly builds up the friction between her two actors and also lets them create their ideal world with lamps and angel wings.

From the visibly struggling Joost we get a slightly better view of the development of his humanistic perspective. At the end, despite the many words she uses to indicate her core, De Wit seems to come from another planet. The real cause of her transformation is less explored, leaving her somewhat elusive. But maybe that’s just what the alien in her (yes, really) intended.