Thieves of the Wood

Overall a good serie. Acting is quite good, like the vibes this serie brings.

Jan de Lichte was a war veteran who turned bandit in mid-18th century Flanders (not 17th century like other reviewers point out). His story has been published several times before and this series marks the first modern and dedicated screenadaptation.

Acting is surprisingly solid and consistent. The production values are great. There are lots of details to make everything believable and the set pieces are truly beautiful at times,even though the forest scenes lack atmosphere, but that's inherent to the fact they are.. Well, forests. And de Lichte, like Robin Hood, operated mainly from the woods.

The series does a good job portraying 18th century society, during the last decades we came to know as the ancien regime. De Lichte's antagonist is a baljuw (bailiff) who battles against both the bandits and the moral decay in, and corruption amongst, the powers in charge of the area: the lower nobility, the mayor of a small town and the clergy.

Although the story seems to suffer from slowdowns in its pace and the cinematography is too bland and grey for my taste, this is truly one of the best series to come from the low countries in quite some time.

Defenitely worth the watch!

Asa fan of the old Flemish Masters, I couldn't miss Jan de Licht's exploits on Netflix. I binge watched it in two days, and I was hungry for more when it finished. It's a beautifully lensed period piece about bandits in Flandres, set in 18th century, duing the Austrian succession wars. The mini series opens en force, it has one of the best openings scenes, whose build up will remind many of the viewers of Tarantino. The casting is so spot on - many fresh faces for me, or maybe I'm not so well versed in European actors, but many of them with a pictural quality - hence many of the shots brought to mind paintings of sitters or Flemish portraits, you ve got to love those red-headed ladies, but also the men, great casting overall; but not only that, but the acting is very good, believable, which adds on to the already well fleshed out characters. Maybe the fact that the film is based on a novel helped, as many of the lines in the show are quote-worthy. It's a show about les nouveau riches, the new blood, about the bourgeoisie, about banditry and outlaws, but with relevance for today. It's a very contemporary show in tone - and aesthetics, although it pays homage to Pays Bas painting, it's very modern in terms of camera, those hand held's in the forrest, that I first saw in Black Death, are surprisingly fresh in a period piece about bandits and nobles. It can be read as a story from rags to riches, but with enough Belgian grit for the connaisseurs to enjoy. It's filthy and beautiful at the same time. The language is Flemish and it's beautiful, its mixture of Dutch and German and French, sounds so exotic to me. Watch it in original, with English or French subs.

The story of Jan de Lichte is a beautiful piece of flemish television that shows their skill in writing a historical drama. A combination of great actors and a impressive set really had me engaged with the plot for the better half of the series. Costume design is on point. Characters are well written, though some I felt needed some more development along the way. The episodes are well structured.

However, all fairy tales must come to an end, and this one ended way to soon, regretfully before the actual finale. A sudden death occurs, and just when I thought these writers might actually have the guts to write a story with consequences, they retrace their steps. Characters that seemed carefully build up change unrecognisably in the span of a single episode. The ending feels rushed and undeserved, as if they were abruptly reminded this was the finale 15 minutes before the end.

All in all, deserves a watch. Don't get your hopes up for a statisfying finale though.

A little cynical I started watching the Flemish series 'De bende van Jan de Lichte' after the famous book by Louis Paul Boon, because book adaptations often disappoint. Especially with favorite books. Already at the start I was pleasantly surprised and my attention caught. The medieval atmosphere is impressive and realistic and the acting is great. Although the storyline sometimes deviates, the book is really honored in my mind. It is a dark 'rascal novel' as the book was intended. A real pleasure to immerse yourself for hours in the Middle Ages and not be dissapointed. A very low rating is not to be taken serious.