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Evil star Katja Herbers), a Dutch newspaper columnist, is dealing with writers’ block, and facing daily waves of harassment from online trolls, thanks in part to her personal campaign for civility in public discourse. Meanwhile, her daughter (Claire Porro) is launching her own benefit at school to raise awareness of freedom of speech being threatened around the world, and Femke is struggling to stay off social media for her own mental health. But when she reports violent threats being made against her to the police, she’s met with a patronizing recommendation to to “not look at those we...
May 12, 2021 Ann Hornaday THE WASHINGTON POST – “Why can’t we just have different opinions and be nice about it?” Thus pleads Femke Boot, a Dutch newspaper columnist whose regular columns incite a steady stream of toxic comments and social media abuse. She’s debating an author named Steven Dood (the last name translates to âSteven Deathâ), whose imposing goth persona includes kohl-like eyeliner and black-painted fingernails. As The Columnist opens, it looks like Steven – nicely played by Bram van der Kelen – will become an even more menacing figure in Femke’s life. ...
One of the first pieces of advice you’ll get when faced with social media harassment is to not engage. Don’t give trolls your time and energy. Don’t try to dunk on vitriolic bots because fighting back seems natural. Better to mute offending accounts, log off until the storm blows over, and move on. But in Ivo van Aart’s revenge thriller “The Columnist,” our hero escalates the tension by showing up to her harassers’ residences and confronting them about their actions. Then, she fights verbal violence with physical violence. Advertisement Femke Boot (Katja Herbers) is the type o...