Once I was Belgian

Everything started in the summer of 1830, with the opening night of an opera which fanned the flames of revolution and the enthusiasm of the Flemish and the Walloonsto fight against the authority of the king of Holland. Everything ended, a hundred and fifty years later, by the construction of a great invisible wall between the North and the South of the country and by the divorce of two communities, leaving the nation then torn apart and vulnerable. Between this period, a long series of conflictsand altercations crystallized the differences between the two linguistic identities…From a personal view point and through his childhood memories, Luc de Heusch comments on the chaotic history of Belgium, from its origins to the present day.
Will Belgium be dissolved into a federal Europe where similar situations are already apparent? Does Belgium still exist? Is the answer a bitter acknowledgment to failure ?

1999, Video beta color ans Black & wit, 53′

Director : Luc de Heusch
Original Language : French
Photography : Stephane Adam, Claude Geens
Sound : Jean-Claude Boulanger, Alexandre Vanderperren
Editing : Emmanuelle Thibaut
Music : Denis Pousseur
Mixing : Laurent Thomas, Brigitte Vayron
Voice : Jean-Daniel Nicodème (French)
Production : Simple Production
Coproduction Team : la Sept ARTE, RTBF, INA, Belgavox & Fonds Henri Storck
Partners : AVRO and the support of the Media programme for developmentof the European Community.
TV Broadcast : Canal 7, ARTE, RTBF, AVRO