King of the Belgians

King of Belgians is a unique film for which it is difficult to find any equivalent. It has attracted attention for its undisputed originality and has rightly received positive responses at various festivals. By the way, as a festival film, it belongs to the more sympathetic minority of competition films that do not represent noble boredom for snobs and the social bubble of festival audiences. The quasi-documentary road movie about the journey of a dethroned monarch across the Balkans remains on a civil level and does not attempt to unleash a marathon of entertaining antics, to which the initial situation tempts. On one hand, this leads to a feeling of incompleteness and unused potential, while on the other, it evokes a sense of authenticity and strengthens the effort to give the film a documentary tone. For me, it is a likable affair. Overall impression: 75%. (14.07.2021)

I wondered if it’s a good thing that this movie was created. It consciously shows off two different castes, the ordinary and the noble one. Sure, you can hardly classify the local Balkan pseudo mafioso as ordinary, when that collocation unites a few chosen ones who gained glory during war and live from it till the end of their lives. Luckily, the film isn’t only about that kind of people, but the truly ordinary ones appear there as well – people like us. The result is definitely absurd, but in a strange and not very funny way. However, if the Belgian king really experienced all of that… I am not sure if that is to his advantage. And if the Belgians bought it and peacefully reunited, it is possibly even weirder nation than I originally thought. (31.01.2018)

I have somewhat mixed feelings about it, but now that I think back to this quasi-documentary road movie, I have to admit that I actually quite liked it. This is mainly thanks to the satirical scenes of traveling through the unpredictable Balkans. In addition, I liked Peter Van den Begin, who played the Belgian King Nicolas III. (70%) (16.03.2023)