Love transforms a person. It makes them more empathic. Not only does it give you a reason to live, but it also fills you with a fear of losing something. But this isn’t a love story. It is a prequel to Netflix’s popular Dutch Crime Drama, Undercover. For viewers who aren’t versed with it, the television series follows the real-life drug kingpin, Ferry Bouman who ran one of the world’s largest XTC (ecstasy) networks. The film portrays his early life before he turned into a drug lord.
‘Ferry’ Summary
Inspired by real-life events, the plot centers around a middle-aged Dutchman Ferry Bouman (Frank Lammers) who works for an Amsterdam drug lord Ralph Brink. He had a clashing relationship with his late father and Brink became the father figure he needed. He worked as a hitman for Brink and in return, Ferry enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle with everything in abundance.
Things were smooth, and he was living a mundane life when suddenly three thugs robbed Brink’s House X (the safe house for drug transport) and shot his son, Mattijs. Brink fuming with anger ordered Ferry to find out those thugs whom he suspected to be Southerners. Ferry belonged to the Brabant campsite area and thus finding these south campers would be an easy task for him.
CCTV footage helps Ferry to spot a lad named Jason Kant who lived on a campsite named Zonnedauw. He rents a caravan in front of Jason’s house and waits for him to return. In the meantime, he hangs out with Jason’s cleaning lady and candy vendor, Danielle (Elise Schaap).
The film further explores his pursuit to kill these three men and find out the snitch in the gang who informed them about House X.
Major Spoilers Ahead
‘Ferry’ Ending Explained
Jason Kant dies without informing about the snitch. However, the second lad on the list, Davy reveals that the whole plan was set up by Brink’s own son, Mattijs, who was shot by mistake. Brink cut him off from the business and Mattijs needed money, because of which he conducted the robbery. Ferry hides this information for the time being and hunts down the third lad, Lars van Marken.
Bowled by the fact that Lars was Danielle’s brother, Ferry spares his life but hides the information from Brink. He cuts off connection with Danielle that costs him his own mental peace. However, after two months, Danielle visits Amsterdam with her friends and coincidentally meets Ferry. His associate links Danielle’s surname (van Marken) with a man on the hit list, Lars van Marken. He also informs Brink about it.
Brink, in the end, connects the dots of Ferry’s unusual behavior and the missing body of Lars van Marken. Ferry confesses that he didn’t kill Lars because he was just a driver and not the shooter. He also reveals that it was Brink’s backstabbing son Mattijs who planned the robbery. Brink orders Ferry to find out Lars and kill him but he refuses. The tension builds between the two, which ends up with Ferry killing Brink and leaving Amsterdam with Danielle. He chooses her over Brink’s dirty business.
He introduces Danielle to her sister, Claudia. It hints at a possible marriage between the two, which is further explored in Television Series Undercover.
However, a curious question arises here: How did Ferry become a XTC drug lord?
Post Credit Scene
A post-credit scene shows an aged Ferry entering a warehouse where Danielle’s brother along with his friends are cooking ecstasy (MDMA) or XTC pills. The scene suggests that Ferry hires them to export the pills and therefore establish a syndicate of his own. In his last moments, Brink told Ferry that he is nothing without him. Well, he is going to prove him wrong in the sequel film.
After Thoughts
The story links to the television series Undercover where Dutchman Ferry Bouman is already running a drug syndicate. Belgian and Dutch Police join their forces in order to find evidence against the elusive XTC Lord.
The narrative shares similarities with the life of Pablo Escobar. Even his face and personality are quite alike. However, the treatment of Narcos had much more depth and impact while this film fails to create some threat on screen. The film is engaging and enjoyable but it fails to match the standards of Netflix’s famous series. For the same reasons, the film and television series on the life of Ferry Bouman failed to create a buzz. Nevertheless, Frank Lammers is charming and captivating, and sometimes funny, but not threatening, not at all threatening.
Ferry is a 2021 Dutch Language Film directed by Cecilia Verheyden. It is streaming on Netflix.
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