Vergeven of vergelden

Vergeven of vergelden (Forgive or retaliate, 2025) is a Dutch documentary directed by Anneloor van Heemstra. For two years, she documented the work of criminal lawyers and mediators Klaartje Freeke and Wikke Monster. In supporting their clients, they work from the firm belief that both parties, suspect and victim, should be aided in moving forward, instead of focusing on retribution.

The original music was written by Roald van Oosten, a versatile artist who performs and composes across a wide musical spectrum .
The solo piano plays a vital role in the overall score, especially in relation to nearly all clients included in the documentary. To introduce the first two clients, the composer utilizes a sparse few identical notes, but abandons this idea with all other clients, now with more expression, such as a slightly lilting, even ironicsense, and a longer number of notes, and in one case a bit discordant and out-of-place, signaling impending doom. In several courtroom sequences, it is used again to aid the beliefs and emotions of the clients and the lawyers in humanizing criminal law, alongside sound design. It is also utilized in several short sequences where the lawyers share what drives them. It interconnects with various music pieces , accompanied by sound design and minimal instrumentation, which together define the overall score.

Then, there is the more ethereal, moving atmospheric sound design pieces music that, in several scenes, is either rather unwarranted or completely spot on. It becomes especially warranted in segments of a client with a complicated history, withholding several shoplifting crimes under his belt, in which there is a perfect marriage of images (the mesmerizing, deluded and intense look of the suspect), music (sound design and piano), and the central theme of the documentary. It is a pivotal moment in which the lawyer appeals to the judge and questions if yet another small sentence is going to make a difference in the life of a person who should be aided towards transition. Like all music, it is short in length but its impact is meritorious.

There is a recurring element in the overall sound design, one of the most appealing of all, besides the ticks, clicks, and rhythmic short cues that aid the progression of events ; the carousel bells and chimes approach from the cue "Song for Jesse" (Nick Cave/Warren Ellis, Jesse James) did not invent this but presented it in an inspiring way. The result is that ever since, even in solely news programs, television series, and documentaries in the Netherlands, it has been used in its original form endlessly, and yet it still maintains a fine and effective impact . In fact, I have even used the cue for two documentaries in the role of music advisor, which typically contrasts with personal methods; I try to present things that are rarely on display.
Third, rhythmic and melodic guitar phrases support yet another sense of progression, but these are perhaps of the least appeal.
Overall, the music by van Oosten is a body of work in which portions of the music are entirely appropriate, showing great restraint yet powerful emotions, while there is enough that only works to a degree, or not at all, coinciding with my continuing hesitation and critical view on music in documentaries in general; it is often a fragile subject to consider . However, the majority of the music works quite well in relation to the central theme of the documentary, appeasement in criminal law.