Dangerous Idyll Between the Meuse and the Waal, 45 min., WDR/3sat © 2006. A film by Claudia Schmid

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Synopsis

​"The Green Heart"—this is what the Dutch call a polder region bounded by the rivers Waal and Meuse. Situated deep within the country's interior near Nijmegen, it remains, nonetheless, at risk of flooding. In February 1995, due to the imminent threat of a dike breach, all residents in this area had to be evacuated as a precautionary measure. Water levels in the Waal and Meuse had risen so drastically that the complete inundation of the entire region—with water depths reaching up to five meters—could no longer be ruled out.

For even though this waterscape—with its lush sheep pastures and thatched-roof houses—appears innocuously idyllic, it harbors the ever-present danger of flooding whenever heavy, sustained rains or storms strike. Here, beside a lake near Appeltern—formed over the years by the flooding of the Meuse—lives Adri van Ooijen with his family.

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Filmmaker Claudia Schmid accompanies Adri through the region and visits his two brothers, Gerald and Pieter, with him. All three of their lives have been shaped by the water in distinct ways, and all three brothers have found remarkably creative ways to adapt to it: Adri himself has designed and built houses capable of withstanding floods. When the water begins to rise, the house floats upward by as much as five meters. Unlike conventional homes, his houses are situated not *behind* the dike, but *in front* of it. Furthermore, Adri operates a campsite that is completely surrounded by water.

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His brother Gerald makes his living from fish ponds, into which he releases 4,000 trout each week before renting out the fishing spots to anglers. Gerald's ponds are visited by approximately 30,000 recreational fishermen every year. The third brother, Pieter, has built a house on stilts suspended in mid-air—a breathtakingly beautiful example of modern architecture.

Running parallel to these personal life stories, the film deciphers the workings of this aquatic landscape and the systems that regulate it. We discover an old pumping station where steam engines had to be stoked before the pumps could drain water from flooded areas, and we visit an imposing, high-tech-controlled lock that enables ships to navigate the differences in water levels between the waterways.