Ad Fundum (1993) Reviews

• Urban Legends or Not?

  smitco2006-01-29

  Although other reviews find this film to be quite accurate to their experience, I find it to be going to extremes. I too had this ritual, and have to say that it was not the worst nightmare come true. The movie tells the story of freshmen students in university (ages 18-*), but might as well be on students in so-called high-schools in Belgium (notably Antwerp, director Eric Van Looy's favorite shooting location for movies, cfr Memory of a Killer, aka De Zaak Alzheimer). It more specifically tells the story on the side-activities of students in their first few months on campus, but with a fatal outcome for one of them. First off: yes, this is quite accurate on what happens on a 'doop' (or baptizing; pronounced like "d' ooh p") and a 'schachtenverkoop' (or freshmen-sale) in that respect that they are badly treated and scolded or verbally abused. The concept of a sale of people to older baptized students for beer (used later by the organizing club to throw parties and help to finance the students club) is demeaning for those being sold and is reminiscent of selling slaves in centuries gone by. They are sold to do everything (decent) for those who buy them for a week. This usually results in work around the house (dishes, washing of cars, clothing, apartments, bringing beer in bars, ...). By no means this means inappropriate requests like sexual favors etc. The next step is 'den doop', usually preceded by a 'drill', which is quite filthy for those involved. Depending on what club you join or what kind of studies they represent, this can go from milk, flower, eggs, ketchup, garlic eating, mud, animal blood and intestines and faces (those studying for veterinarians), ... After this drilling part, you have the 'doop' itself. Depending on the club, you are called one by one or in group on stage to do a small task. Some clubs have koekoek's (mockingbirds,like in swiss wall clocks) that are placed on stage and every time the people in the audience ask for it, must give the exact time or drink a full pint of beer ad fundum (=bottoms up). It never is correct, although some are quite accurate. And the final stage in your freshmen year usually is 'ontgroening', where you get a spoon of salt on your tongue and need to drink a full pint of beer (which reacts of course) after having recited some Latin text, pleading allegiance to the club. While I studied in Antwerp itself from the year 1994-1995 up, this movie was not accurate and not anything like what I've witnessed in my years in the club (even as Praeses (head of the club) or in the Praesidium (chairmen of club)). In those years, I've witnessed over 30 of these rituals, even in other clubs. If you want to see this movie or are reading this review to know a bit about a 'studentendoop' in Belgium, or Flanders, or Antwerp, my advice is that this always depends on what club you want to join or where in the country. There are clubs in Antwerp that do NOT allow drinking of the praesidium during these activities (zero tolerance), some don't have a sale, some do it all in one (short pain), but as far as I know, nobody has been banned from club activities because they weren't baptized, except for those 2 kind of activities involved with initiated members: doop/ontgroening/verkoop and cantus. The film is maybe inspired by some accidents that happened before. I am not going to lie... people have died in less controlled times because of irresponsible or stupid ideas some people had, or people have gotten wounded or scarred for life, although these are far a minority. The practice is condoned, but not approved by most academic instances or the local and countries government. The story I believe Ad Fundum is founded on in part is the death of a student in Antwerp a few decades ago, where someone was launched from the 3rd floor, wrapped in a few thick mattresses. A stupid death because one can foresee that there is even a remote chance (even a lot more than remote, namely: certain) that the person will die. That club nowadays still is active, but it checks other baptizing and does not baptize anyone anymore. Other stories, going from lethal burns from being placed in a barrel where there used to be stored sulfuric acid in, and were badly cleaned I have not heard, although in the year I started, this was on our campus a fact (although the persons did not die) that had happened that year. Bad uses or wanting to be 'original' or 'spectacular', like using stunt-fluids to drench someones pants in and later set on fire is something you could ask yourself a why on (like happened with a certain Med-students club 5 years ago), and surely something you can see going wrong (the flames of course did not stop on the bottom of the legs on the outside, but shot back up on the inside as well. Overall good performances of the actors, a bit worse on the camera-work, but still a good movie. Just don't take the story to be true (anymore)?

• Ad fundum (bottoms up)

  stamper2002-09-21

  This film is really not too bad at all, for it is very realistic and the acting and the story are quite good as well. The only thing this film suffers from is the last 'love' scene (f..k me hard we got nothing to celebrate). That scene really makes no sense at all and I thought was only thrown in, because film about fraternities ought to have some sex in it. The rest of the film, I have not much comment about, although I can imagine some people might think the 'flying carpet' game is too over the top. I can imagine you sitting there and thinking: 'No. They would NOT be that stupid.' Well I've heard stories and it seems they are. Stories like tying someone between two mattresses and throwing them out of the window. How it ended? SPLAT! Dead. This is no joke, it is serious, too serious. So next time my friends, when you think of going to a fraternity or when you are in it and giving the freshmen a hard time. Think about what you do. Think carefully. 7 out of 10

• Not an accurate depiction of reality

  Krabbetje2010-07-21

  I'd like to start off by saying that I enjoyed the movie, but because the story was well written (props to Erik Van Looy, as per usual) and I enjoyed seeing several of our known actors in their younger days, not because of its depicting the reality. Why is that? Because it doesn't. I know this is an old movie, and I suppose times have changed. I'm only twenty years old and I cannot comment on the times before the past two years. However, the picture that is presented in this movie in no way represents student life in Belgian as I've come to know it. I've been in a fraternity for the past two years, and have been elected praeses for the year to come, so I know my way around. When I was baptized, I never felt humiliated, because all the older members show that this whole baptism thing is just a matter of tradition and is not meant to hurt or humiliate you. In my first year, I have, of course, been told to drink. However, if I felt I'd had enough, or if I decided not to drink, that would never be a problem. I'd be told to drink the same amount, but in water instead. Hardly torturing, is it? About the needing to be baptized to "fit in", same story. Of course there are always people who feel better than one another because they've been baptized and the other one hasn't (and vice versa just as well, by the way), but it's not the general feeling. There are several students who come to our fraternity's activities without having been baptized (the ones that are open to them, so not the cantuses, etc.) and have a great time. Accidents happen, as well in fraternities as in every place where people gather, but never in my life have I seen any fraternity do anything even remotely comparable to dropping a student from 5 meters up without any means of protection. We're not stupid. All in all, good movie, quite catching, but not an accurate depiction of today's reality.

• A drama that is much closer to reality than some of you might want to believe

  philip_vanderveken2005-07-15

  I guess everybody who has been a college student in Belgium (I don't know how it works in other countries), knows that he isn't seen as 'full' by the older students until he has been 'baptized' by one of the student clubs. And no, that has absolutely nothing to do with religion, it is a tradition of initiation rites with only one intention and that is to break a new student's spirit completely by humiliating and degrading him or her. That is done by all the students who have been baptized before and is in fact only an excuse to drink incredible amounts of beer while doing to others what has been done to themselves while they were baptized. In case you still don't know what that exactly means, I suggest you watch this "Ad Fundum". It gives a good idea of what it all looks like. The movie tells the story of a group of students who go to college for the first year. Immediately they are asked by the student club to tell who wants to be a 'real' student and who doesn't. Those who don't want to be part of all those filthy games can leave, but most of them stay, probably also out of curiosity. One of them is Sammy Raes, a 'nerd' who didn't go to college just to party, but also to get his diploma. He becomes a very easy target for the leader of the student club. And at first everything goes well. They drink a lot of beer, do some games,... the usual stuff. But than the seemingly innocent little games go a little bit too far and Sammy gets killed. Since the victim was drunk and none of the other students was capable of giving a truthful testimony, the leaders are free to go. The disappointment by Sammy's friends is huge, but they have a plan. They will take revenge in an appropriate way... I already hear some of you think that all this must be wrong or exaggerated. No-one can be that stupid, certainly not the people who will once form the elite of the country. Well, I'm afraid they are, or better they were. The last couple of years, most schools have made up some very strict rules and regulations to make sure that accidents will no longer happen, but as always those regulations only came after some incidents already had happened. Take for instance the college where I studied. A few years before I started there, someone died because they had put her in a barrel and poured out beer and all kinds of nasty stuff over her head. That didn't kill her of course, but the barrel first had been used to transport sulfuric acid and wasn't cleaned properly. The result: the little bit of acid that was left, reacted with the rest and she was so heavily burnt that she died later on in hospital. Since than, the student club asks for one minute of silence before the start of every Cantus (a drinking party during which the presidium (the leaders of the club) tell you when and how much to drink. In the meantime you sing typical student songs) in order to commemorate her. 'Lucky' girl, no? So, the story is more believable than you might think at first. But that's not the only good thing about this movie. It was directed by Erik Van Looy, the man who also made the, in my opinion, excellent movie "De Zaak Alzheimer". I truly believe he is one of the best directors that we have and this movie only proves that. It isn't over-the-top dramatic, it all feels very realistic. That's of course also thanks to the performances of the talented cast that he worked with. I'm pretty sure that most people outside Belgium don't know any of them, but over here the names Jaak Van Assche, Tom Van Landuyt, Axel Daeseleire, Wim Opbrouck, Herbert Flack, Gene Bervoets... will certainly ring a bell. Overall, this movie certainly is worth a watch, thanks to the fine, realistic story and the good acting. It may not be a masterpiece, but in my opinion it certainly deserves a rating between 7/10 and 7.5/10.

• Belgian beer, sex...and drama!

  Coventry2004-07-07

  Ad Fundum (roughly translated: bottoms up!) is one of the last good Belgian movies and successfully presents human drama and emotions in an accurate setting. The film handles about the rites and `games' first-year university students undergo in order to become part of the exclusive group of adults …at least that's the explanation Campus leaders give to it. Like it's the case in reality, these rites are nothing but an excuse to drink and act filthy. A ‘nerdish'-student (excellently portrayed by Sven DeRidder) is the easy target of leader Tom Van Bauwel and quickly becomes the casualty of a deadly accident. Since the victim was drunk and none of the other students was capable of giving a truthful testimony, the leaders are set free. But…friends of the dead student have an appropriate act of vengeance in mind. The plot may sound a bit exaggerated, but it's a lot more realistic than you might think. Certainly around here, in Belgium. Like the other reviewer mentioned already, the news regularly features stories about fraternity pranks gone wrong. The film Ad Fundum can depend on a solid Flemish cast and a talented director (Eric Van Looy recently became Belgium's most famous director because of `De Zaak Alzheimer…this is still one of his first movies). The lifestyle of Belgian youth is terrifically portrayed and cynically questioned throughout the entire film. And last but not least…like it's traditional in Belgian cinema…there are a few stylishly shot sex-sequences starring beautiful woman. Recommended!