SPORTSMAN OF THE CENTURY
COUNTY HALL
Erik van Doorn, Queen's Commissioner - Good morning.
We are very pleased you are willing to chair the commission.
My pleasure.
I shall leave you to it and trust you to work things out together.
Goodbye.
Gentlemen, good luck.
In view of the conditions for the 1963 skating tour...
...Reinier Paping is Sportsman of the Century.
A one-tour wonder. - What about Van Benthem?
1985 and 1986!
A two-tour wonder. - And neither Frisian.
What about Jeen van den Berg? - Or Adje Keulen Deelstra?
Then take Abe Lenstra. - Gentlemen...
The candidates so far are:
Roel Bokker Span - pole-vaulter.
Tjitte Brouwer - Barge sailing.
14 years at the top.
Pelota - Hotze Schuil.
Heinze's choice.
Pelota is a team sport, you can't compare it.
And you sail alone?
Piet de Boer - short-track champion Sytze Anema.
Sytze Anema!
Sake...
Sake Wiarda.
Good morning.
Taeke Jongsma. He's Sportsman of the Century.
Who is Taeke Jongsma. - He meant more to Friesland...
...than all the rest put together.
Rubbish.
Jongsma never received the recognition he deserved.
The others had a few years success...
But Taeke Jongsma was undefeated for 60 years.
And what did he do? - Pole sitting.
Pole sitting!
It's paralympic for up the pole.
Finished?
Taeke Jongsma sat motionless at an early age.
Taeke, why don't you make more effort?
When I leave school I'll have to work for the farmer my father works for too.
Gingernut, there's the workhouse too. - Rintje Pijlsma.
FAILED
Where do we have to go now? Where can we go?
Why not take it all? Here you are, go on, take it.
This too.
Here, take it.
Hey lads. Come here.
Feenstra, Jongsma. He's throwing me out.
It'll be your turn next. Grab those pitchforks and do something.
Come on, help me.
Hey, that's for the whole week.
Really!
You're going along to Pijlsma tomorrow. - Why?
To work. - It's my holiday.
Farmer Pijlsma makes sure we have enough to eat.
This sticky clay?
If you work, we'll have enough. - Yes, rheumatism. Just like you.
Jongsma. Give me a hand.
You push.
I'll just take off the handbrake.
I've had enough.
Had enough?
But you're no use to me like that.
What else can you do?
It's better for you to stop working all together.
But farmer, I've been working for you since I was twelve.
More than 25 years.
I wanted to give you a whole guilder.
You have change of 2.50?
Rintje?
Well, I'll go and find someone who can help me.
What are you doing there? - This is Pijlsma's trough.
The cows drink out of that. - I hope they curdle the milk.
That trough doesn't belong to Pijlsma. - Everything here belongs to Pijlsma.
This meadow belongs to my dad. He just bought it.
From that fence to here.
Scared? I bet you a guilder you won't make it.
Hey man, you don't even have a guilder. - You're too scared.
You know what? Let's both jump.
The first to reach the other side wins. For a guilder.
One, two, three.
You owe me a guilder.
Your dad owes my dad a guilder, ask him.
At the end of every school year...
...the village school from Terkaple battled a school from Goaiingaryp.
May the best man win. - Good luck.
I'm curious what idiot they persuaded to sit on a pole.
Look, look.
Don't stand there loafing, get down to work.
Taeke's victory...
...gave Terkaple hope...
...and led to a revival of pole sitting.
Pole sitting was all the rage.
People sat everywhere.
After milking, the farmhands had a sit.
But no one loved it as much as Taeke.
He's just like his grandpa. He was an athlete too.
Local championships were held...
...and regional and national ones.
Taeke won them all.
Show off.
Why are you sitting on that pole?
If I wasn't sitting on this pole, then you wouldn't be here with me.
That's not true.
I come here for the sun. - And who'll say later:
"Oh, are you that pole sitter? Here's some bread."
If you don't work, there's not much life to be had.
Get down from that pole.
And then came the day of reckoning...
The Frisian Championships...
...all categories!
He'd really appreciate it if you came to look for once.
I put some tasty treats in.
Great, Mum. - That's all right, boy.
Do you still need this?
How are you doing? - Fine.
Father, look what our kid won.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name...
...Thy kingdom come...
...Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses...
...as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power...
...and the glory, for ever and ever.
Taeke won all the championships until 1940.
There weren't many contests in the war.
And he had to go into hiding in 1943.
To avoid forced labor.
Tjitske!
Rintje.
Where did you get that motorbike? - I bought it from a Canadian.
You want a ride? - Don't keep him waiting.
I'll take you everywhere.
To Leeuwarden? Amsterdam? Paris? Wherever you want. You know that.
Can't that guy get his own food?
He sits on a pole all day.
Rintje Pijlsma is mad about you.
A pretty girl like you shouldn't settle for any less.
He's eating all our food.
Thanks.
Don't be silly, just eat up.
I have to watch my diet. You can get piles from poles.
Dad wants me to marry Rintje.
That coward is shooting geese again. He should leave the birds in peace.
If we marry first, Dad would stop complaining.
Is that what you want?
I'm doing it for us. I'm doing it for Dad.
I'm doing it for Obe, who had to move to America.
If I break the record, I'll be the voice of all exploited farm laborers.
When I've achieved that...
...then I'll marry you.
But what use is a man who sits on a pole all day?
Can he fulfill my needs?
And what might be...
...your needs...
...lady?
Show off!
Gentlemen, to your places.
One, two.
I am Sake Wiarda. I'm from the Leeuwarder Courant.
Can I ask you some questions?
You've been at it for more than 3 weeks. How do you keep it up?
It all comes down to preparations.
How did you prepare? - Breathing exercises...
...healthy food, no alcohol.
And you study your opponents. - How long do you plan to carry on?
Eeltje Hidde Halbertsma's record is 250 days.
I'll stay up here for a while longer. It has to be a nice round number.
Hey, will you write that I'm doing it to focus attention on the farmers...
...who just work their laborers to death?
You're a communist. - What's that?
Surely it's not catching?
Capital - Part 1
Thanks for the nice conversation. Sake Wiarda.
Now we're here, why don't you tell us your life story?
What should I tell you?
Maybe where you come from? - From Woudsend.
I know a woman in Woudsend, she just loves it.
Her husband is always away. I don't know why...
...but when he's away, she gets the whole village between her legs.
I know men who come all the way from Heerenveen for it.
Her name is...
Wikje de Klok, Wikje de Bok, something like that.
She had a great nickname anyway. What was it again?
Wicky or Clicky, Dicky or Cricky or Slicky...
Lick my Stick. - Right! D'you know her?
I say, while we're here...
It's taking so long.
I'm trying to delay it.
I mean the record attempt, Show off.
One more time. One more time.
Peet, shut up. Quiet. Trap shut.
Stop it, Peet. Be quiet.
What can I do now?
Dad has fallen.
He'll never be able to walk again.
Can I do anything? - The cows are bursting...
...we have to mow. - I can do that later.
When? - After the record.
In two months? - Seven weeks and two days.
The cows are bursting now. We have to mow now!
I can't just stop now.
When my dad died, we didn't have anything either.
My mother worked as a maid. She went to Sneek every day by bike.
21 kilometers there and 21 kilometers back.
This is our chance.
Your Dad doesn't like me, Tjitske. - But I want you.
When Dad comes out of hospital, we'll be married...
...and have sorted out the farm.
You only think about yourself. - I'm doing it for all the workers...
Shut up about that. We are just as poor.
I thought you loved me.
You have to understand! I'm doing this for us. For our future.
I need you...
Is Taeke still sitting there?
Gaais, how many more days does your son have to go?
Another four weeks.
Taeke, come on!
Frisian World Record Day 244
Would you like a drink, sir?
Excuse me for a moment.
You're too late!
What're you doing here?
You belonged to me.
You loved me, didn't you? - Yes, but you didn't love me enough.
That's not true.
When I needed you, you just sat there.
Rintje paid for Dad's operation.
I came down from my pole now, didn't I?
I'm married.
But we were getting married?
I love Rintje.
Watch out, idiot!
A berenburger bitters, another one...
...and a fruit squash for the sportsman.
It's on me. As long as you look a little more cheerful.
Are you paying for it?
Hey, the communists are on strike.
No, that's not possible. They don't have any work.
Tjitske!
I'm Swobkje.
They are Johannes and Douwe. They are anarchists.
They have so much fire.
And why, dear comrades, am I telling you this?
Because we are getting nowhere with all that chatter about pennies.
I am convinced...
...that the revolution can only be achieved with a general strike.
The whole machine grinds to a halt if your powerful arm wants.
As Domela Nieuwenhuis wrote in the Free Socialist...
Douwe. What did Domela Nieuwenhuis say again?
Domela Nieuwenhuis is our redeemer.
Next point. - That bottle is empty.
The party cash box. - Empty too.
Money is needed to pay for the revolution.
What about the unpaid membership fees?
We have a new member. Taeke Jongsma.
Membership costs ten guilders a year.
Ten.
We need that money to achieve our goals.
What a great anarchist!
We need money to pay for a demonstration in The Hague.
You want a swig?
Come on. Teetotallers are social democrats!
I'm going to the bar.
What are you doing here? - Rintje is at the Leeuwarden Club.
I did some shopping.
Taeke, how are you? - Fine.
Who were they?
I can't give you any more until you pay the bill.
If they have enough, the cell from Appelscha can come to The Hague too.
Take off your stockings. - No.
Go on, take them off.
Will you join in?
In the name of Stalin, this is a robbery.
Everyone on the floor. On the floor.
Flat on the floor.
Don't look. - Lie down.
Not you.
Fill it.
What are you doing?
The man worked hard for that. - Too bad.
Every revolution has its martyrs.
We were going to rob the bank. This man isn't a capitalist.
Oh, God.
What now? - Damn it.
That isn't even enough to pay off our debt to Oosterwerf.
What now?
Wait.
Take this.
And now pay in.
Pay in.
Book.
Hurry up.
That's not necessary. Stamp. Come on.
In the bag. Silly cow.
Next.
In line. Pay in.
This is a capitalist, a filthy exploiter.
You little piece of chicken shit.
Get out.
I'm sorry.
Drive, go on.
You want some tea?
I'll get some.
TAEKE JONGSMA GUILTY
Tjitske...
Lieske?
Can you bring some tea?
Hey, weren't you in the newspaper? You were champion in...
Come on. Short track skating, wasn't it? - Short track?
You're mistaken. - What was it? Pole vaulting?
Hey, Foppe.
Have you ever punched a celebrity on the chin?
Guys, leave him alone.
Get out of here.
Thanks...
The polesitter, aren't you?
What happened?
They were messing around. - No, how did you end up here?
You were improving your record and suddenly you disappeared.
A pity.
Since Abe Lenstra played soccer for Enschede...
...you're the last Frisian phenomenon.
You had a request.
Pole sitting?
Why? - To break my record.
Record? What record?
The record is two hundred...
...251 days. Hylke Meinsma from Workum.
When I was pole sitting I always honest.
Well?
We're going on strike.
CLOTHES PEGS SOLD OUT
Excuse me.
Tjitske Pijlsma... - Andre Rigter.
The prison director? - Yes.
How many days does Taeke have to go?
He's only just past halfway.
The Americans stopped the Marshall Plan some time ago.
How do you see the future?
We must work hard, but if all Frisians show the same character as Taeke Jongsma...
Everyday only 3km from here.
He shows what a real Frisian can do...
...and our beautiful province can be proud of him.
Aren't you forgetting the many unemployed?
These...
TAEKE JONGSMA ENTERS HIS 5TH MONTH
Rintje! - Henk...
How are you? - Fine.
How's our pole sitter? - Great. What a man!
Cigar? - Please.
Be my guest.
Henk...
We should reward him for his heroism.
You think so?
Gentlemen...
I've had a letter from the ministry.
"Dear sir...
"The minister is impressed by the positive atmosphere in your institution.
"He realizes this is largely thanks to...
"...prisoner 1217!
"As a result, on the grounds of article 416c...
"...prisoner 1217 is eligible for a reduction of the sentence...
"...equal to the amount of time left.
"So you should release him today.
"Yours sincerely Theodor Huisman, Minister of Justice."
You can come down.
Don't you move, eh!
Come on, this isn't a hotel!
You can pick up your personal possessions.
I have three days to go.
I protest!
You have that right. But you can't stay and wait for the result.
You can come back if the judge approves your request.
Guards.
Saw!
Hey, darling.
I am married to you. And I was planning to make you happy.
You do make me happy.
A happy person also wants others to be happy.
Why did you do it? - What have I done?
Stop it.
I love you for everything you've done for us.
But it never ends.
One day I'll hate you.
And now you're going back to Taeke?
Can I help?
I should have come down from my pole.
Let me make amends.
Come on.
I love you.
You can't cope with a normal life.
You'll always end up sitting there.
That will always be stronger in the end.
What are you doing here?
I want to work for you.
- You can clean the slurry pit.
I'll get you a toothbrush.
I want to renovate Tjitske's farm.
Listen.
Not today, or tomorrow...
...or ever. - You don't have the right.
That farm isn't yours. - Yes it is.
It was the dowry. And now get lost! Or I'll set Beike on you.
Filthy communist.
The pelota match in Sint Annaparochie...
...was won by Johan Jansen.
Rinnie Kuiper went down by five to four and six draws.
The losers missed Hotze Schuil who broke his ankle a month ago.
Will he have recovered in time for the PC?
POLE sitting RECORD ATTEMPT
Outside Harlingen no one is interested in Hotze Schuil's ankle.
All Friesland is fascinated by the record attempt...
...now Taeke Jongsma is taking part. In Greidhoek, people are convinced...
...that Jongsma will smash Hylke Meinsma's record.
Taeke, I've been thinking.
We've fought over Tjitske for twenty years and it doesn't help.
We have to put a stop to it.
What use is an empty farm to me?
I worked it out. If you work five years for me...
...you can pay a good deposit on Tjitske's old farm.
I'll only offer it once.
Make sure the record is so high it will never be broken.
Where is Taeke?
Okay men, at the count of three. One, two...
TJALLE VAN BUURN FRESH AS A FIDDLE AFTER 200 DAYS
He's already two months past his old record.
280 days. How can one man keep it up that long?
He's lucky that winter hasn't set in.
Taeke had a hard time, didn't he.
Don't you think, Tjitske?
Tjitske?
He reminds me of you, in your best years.
What are you doing?
Bringing our things. We bought the farm.
The farm?
How... - With the money we won.
We? - The money I won.
Damn it!
Rintje!
What have you done?
That farm was for Tjitske.
Why should I give a farm to a woman who left me?
You're a dirty bastard.
Get your own farm.
Scoundrel. Cheat.
If you don't do it for Tjitske, then do it for your daughter.
My daughter...
All that wealth and power.
And you let the pain ruin your life.
What happened?
Taeke!
Where are you going?
To Stavoren. - And then?
I'm leaving tomorrow from Rotterdam for America.
What is left for me here?
You remember that last time?
Okay!
He married the girl and they lived happily ever after.
But Taeke never broke the record.
No record, no Sportsman of the Century. - Here come the drinks.
Did he pole sit again?
Taeke worked for a farmer.
When the farmer died childless, he was able to buy the farm.
Forty years later Taeke and Tjitske left the farm to their daughter.
Taeke was out of action from one day to the next.
He had no hobbies...
He didn't play cards.
He thought fishing was boring.
Anne?
Damn!
Rintje, come on. I'll be later for the hairdresser.
Rintje!
Show off.
How long have you been there?
Dad!
Taeke!
Show off.