Ares series driven by The Netherlands’s colonial guilt

I find it hard to believe that some people cannot finish this series on account of it being too scary…

It’s certainly quite creepy and some scenes are gruesome, but there is a lot worse out there. The German horror movies Anatomie and Anatomie II, also set against the background of university life, come to mind, for example.

I finished the series and came away, not with any fear whatsoever, but rather with the conclusion that this series is driven by the Dutch and their guilt over their colonial past.

It’s not even that subtle. In the last episode the Dutch ship with black captives in its hold ready to be sold as slaves is rather telling.

Also interesting that the main character is a mulatto. Her father, a black man, is a nurse who works the night shift at a hospital. It’s she who is bound to start undermining a secretive Dutch society that’s been around for centuries.

This thinly veiled political message doesn’t particularly help to create a great story, but it doesn’t stand in the way of an ok story. Ares is watchable and quite fascinating at times.

It is sorely lacking when it comes to character building, plot and plot twists. Some things go too fast and some things take too long.

All in all it’s worth watching.

If it will inspire viewers to dig deeper into the not always so pretty history of The Netherlands is very doubtful, but it may at least remind some of its viewers that the unusual wealth of the Netherlands was in part built through vile crimes against humanity.

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