On November 2, 2004, Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker known for his controversial views, was murdered while cycling in the center of Amsterdam. Van Gogh, who had made a short film about the violence suffered by women in radical Islam, was stabbed and then shot several times. He was the great-grandson of the famous painter Vincent van Gogh and often boasted about this connection. At 47, he was enjoying a diverse career as a filmmaker, journalist and writer. His killer, a 26-year-old of Moroccan and Dutch descent, was arrested shortly after the crime. The killer gave no clear motive for his act but left a message near the victim’s body. Dutch authorities considered the crime to be premeditated.
Theo van Gogh abandoned his law studies to devote himself entirely to cinema, journalism and writing. He made around twenty films, some of which participated in prestigious festivals such as Cannes. Among his best-known works are “0605”, a tribute to Pim Fortuyn, a Dutch politician assassinated in 2002, and “Submission”, the short film that highlighted violence against women in Islam.
Van Gogh was a controversial figure, critical of conservative Islam and the multicultural Dutch society that he considered too liberal in accepting cultures that he considered aggressive and backward. His short film “Submission”, broadcast on Dutch television in August, showed the violence that some women experience in the Islamic context through the narration of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali parliamentarian.
The film opened with a provocative scene: a veiled woman kneeling on a carpet praying; moving closer with the camera revealed her partial nudity behind the veil. In a key moment of the narrative, the woman stated: “God says that men are the defenders of women and for this reason he has made them stronger.” Revealing her own experience of domestic violence, she described how she was regularly abused by her husband. These powerful images raised concerns among the police, who had already put protective measures in place for van Gogh; however, he tended to ignore them, boasting about his freedom to his friends.
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