Birmingham, Al (WIAT) A Dutch article about a movie on the Holloway case has provoked bitter online commentary.
Things have been quiet on the Joran van der Sloot front lately.
There’s been next to no news out of Peru as the murder inquiry grinds through a legal system with no guarantee of a speedy trial.
Van der Sloot remains in the Castro Castro prison charged with murdering 21 year old student Stephany Flores in a case with spooky parallels to the disappearance of Mountain Brook teen Natalee Holloway on a graduation trip to Aruba.
Holloway, last seen with van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers, vanished five years to the day Flores’ body was found in van der Sloot’s Lima hotel room.
But while van der Sloot’s charges of legal misrepresentation and a coerced confession fade from the headlines, a firestorm of online commentary has broken out over a movie being produced by Dutch filmmaker Paul Ruven.
In another strange coincidence, Ruven was on Aruba making a fictionalized film about van der Sloot and the Holloway case when the news of Flores death broke.
After a several days flurry of stories about
Ruven and his film “Me and Mr. Jones” things got quiet again until Myrtille van Bommel’s article quoting Ruven about his project. Although Ruven has been accused of being part of a whitewash on Aruban handling of the Natalee investigation, the picture painted in van Bommel’s article is very different.
In the article on the
Radio Netherlands Worldwide site, Ruven appears to take on all parties in the case. Regarding van der Sloot, he’s quoted as saying “"The film pulls no punches in showing that Joran lied. That's why the main character, the investigative journalist, breaks the law to get at the truth. He, just like Joran, doesn't abide by the law."
But Natalee and the Holloway family are blasted as well. He says the image of her as some kind of holy virgin, an innocent girl, is just the way her mother wants her portrayed.
And although there have been allegations Ruven is part of a cover up/whitewash attempt to improve the image of tourist dependent Aruba, the island takes some hits in the article as well. Everybody on the island knows each other. When there are elections, the candidates are often sponsored by US hotel owners. The winning candidate appoints his entire family and distant friends to important governmental positions. These people hang on to the posts for the rest of their lives."
The article goes on to say that “It's this colonial background of favourism and conflict of interests that allows a young rich Dutchman to do what he likes without being brought to justice. Mr Ruven believes nobody on Aruba wants the truth to come out. It was also never the intention that Joran should end up in prison. That would damage tourism and the economy.”
Sounds like he’s out to offend all involved…..but that’s nothing compared to the online comments van Bommel’s article has spawned.
Here’s a quick sample…and remember, anyone with a keyboard can say pretty much anything on line so supply your own perspective and skepticism:
Miranda and Jeff from Amsterdam weigh in with a lengthy denunciation of the entire Holloway family linking extensively to a documentary Natalee Holloway ''The Unrevealed Timelines'' and ending with this plea:
“We believe in karma Mr. Ruven , so please go ahead and give us the real Natalee Holloway and not the BS her mother tried to feed us, it will benefit you and your movie. Thank you for reading this email."Whereupon the firefight ensues. Marie chimes in with
“I see the Van der Sloots have marshaled their family members to join in on the discussion!” Only to be gently rebuked by Bippity for giving Miranda and Jeff to much credit.
Bippity goes on to say
“Mr. Ruven believed the lies about Natalee -- that's his bad. He should have demanded proof or at least questioned how something like that could be covered up for five years. But despite having ridiculous "sources" of info, shown by his false portrayal of Natalee, he still concluded Joran is guilty and Aruban authorities covered it up; just as they always had; because he was rich, white and Dutch.”
There’s lots more on the RNW website.
