'Tagged' is a group portrait of boys who are using their appearance to break free from the persistent generalizations about 'immigrants' as opposed to 'Dutch people'. But first and foremost, these are boys who, no different from other adolescents in this world, are trying to break out of their puberty by creating security for themselves in a close-knit group, with dress codes that are unintelligible and unfathomable to others. While they are proudly admiring their well-trained torsos in the mirror and are commenting on themselves, the boys make no disguise of their feelings and brazenly plant the beggars' flag on their defiant behaviour. They are speculating on the effect they have on girls and women, and, not completely without concern, are comparing the pric… tags on the T-shirts and scents with their meagre incomes. Therefore, it is also touching to see how in spite of themselves they are actually appealing to our empathy.
As soon as this group appears on the screen, it springs to our present-day minds that these boys feel cornered by society, and/or that society feels cornered by them. 'Tagged' is a challenge to the autochthonous community, whose members confine themselves to this kind of perspective and only ask themselves the question: 'how on earth can they afford it?' Rudelius treats her subject matter in a more open-minded and involved way. Casting a fascinated, socioanthropological eye over her fellow men, she aims her microphone and camera at isolated aspects of group behaviour, and, by means of the setting, direction and editing, ensures that the images yield up a more general meaning and can generate more constructive ideas.


Read more...