De oorlog die nooit ophoudt (The war that never ends)
Paul M. van Brugge
" De oorlog die nooit ophoudt is a sublime score by Paul M. van Brugge. "Written by Joep de Bruijn - Review of the music as heard in the movie
De oorlog die nooit ophoudt (The war that never ends, 2025) is a Dutch documentary series made by Lex Runderkamp.The filmmaker tracks people's searches as the public access to the World War II areas of the national archives has expanded, seen over the course of three episodes (Resistance,Treason, and Prosecution). While trodden as a subject, there still is value in people being confronted with new information, shifting views on the truth, while questions and assumptions remain.
The music composed by Paul M. van Brugge features several ideas to allude to these new pieces of the puzzle and the shifting, yet still not fully uncovered truth through minimal but evocative music. The 70-minute-plus score uses a lot of recurring, minimal, fragmented phrases from evocative string lines, rhythmic plucked strings, solo cello, piano and celestial sound design, complemented by musical accents through other instruments, and is used with appropriate small pauses in between all cues.
The second episode features a new, deviating aspect of the score, as van Brugge uses an accordion to express personal history in relation to folklore surrounding the whereabouts of a person, his activities and intentions, as an ancestor unveils older and new information . In the third episode, looking at the case of a living prosecuted person against an ancestor's search, interlinked with the clinical perspective of current-day students regarding the contentious legal process, the established musical DNA of the original score creates the most unerring emotion.
De oorlog die nooit ophoudt is a sublime score by Paul M. van Brugge.
(27-09-2025)
The music composed by Paul M. van Brugge features several ideas to allude to these new pieces of the puzzle and the shifting, yet still not fully uncovered truth through minimal but evocative music. The 70-minute-plus score uses a lot of recurring, minimal, fragmented phrases from evocative string lines, rhythmic plucked strings, solo cello, piano and celestial sound design, complemented by musical accents through other instruments, and is used with appropriate small pauses in between all cues.
The second episode features a new, deviating aspect of the score, as van Brugge uses an accordion to express personal history in relation to folklore surrounding the whereabouts of a person, his activities and intentions, as an ancestor unveils older and new information . In the third episode, looking at the case of a living prosecuted person against an ancestor's search, interlinked with the clinical perspective of current-day students regarding the contentious legal process, the established musical DNA of the original score creates the most unerring emotion.
De oorlog die nooit ophoudt is a sublime score by Paul M. van Brugge.
(27-09-2025)