driving piles in Amsterdam (spoiler)

Rating: 3/10 (12 April 2005)

O12 created quite a buzz when sections of it were being shot in Amsterdam and Haarlem (train station scenes). In fact, I took a train from Haarlem station at the very moment when the shoot was in progress on another platform! (Really.) Loads of security, so I missed the cool guys whom we were getting force-fed by the Dutch media anyway. Big deal. And later on the movie proved disastrous.
However, that's not why I write this. I used to live in Amsterdam. Let me tell you something about this city built on piles.
The willing suspension of disbelief is helpful if you want to enjoy a piece of escapist fiction such as this, but even then there are limits. The fact that the piles supporting the Amsterdam house inhabited by the Jeroen Krabbe character were standing IN WATER was totally ludicrous. What the *** were they thinking? Do these nut cases genuinely believe that Amsterdam is some sort of raft on poles built on a lake or something? For crying out loud! The reason why houses in Amsterdam are built on piles is that the top layer of the soil is too soft to support them. That's why piles are driven into the ground until they hit a sandy layer.
I am surprised nobody else has commented on this bit of absurdity.