Before this movie, director Pim de la Parra and producer Wim Verstappen were the kings of Dutch sleaze. Operating under their legendary Scorpio Films banner, these guys were cranking out high-energy, low-budget, skin-filled exploitation flicks like Blue Movie and Frank and Eva. They knew how to put butts in seats. But then, after Suriname gained independence from the Netherlands in 1975, Pim got a massive dose of national pride and decided it was time to make art with a capital A.

The result was Wan Pipel. The very first feature film produced in the newly independent nation of Suriname. And holy hell, did it ruin them. Pim completely lost his mind over the budget, blowing past every financial guardrail, which caused a massive, permanent blowout between “Pim and Wim.” The movie tanked at the box office, Scorpio Films went belly up, and a glorious era of Dutch grindhouse cinema died right then and there.

But man, what a way to go out.

The plot plays out like a sweaty, politically charged daytime soap opera. Borger Breeveld stars as Roy, an Afro-Surinamese student living the good life in the Netherlands with his blonde Dutch girlfriend, Karina (Willeke van Ammelrooy). Roy gets a telegram saying his mother is dying, so Karina lends him the cash to fly back home.

Once Roy touches down in Suriname, the tropical heat and the cultural awakening hit him like a freight train. He forgets all about his studies and the Netherlands and falls head over heels for Rubia (Diana Gangaram Panday), an Indo-Surinamese Hindu nurse. The problem? The local Afro-Surinamese and Hindu communities are locked in deep-seated, conservative cultural divides. The romance starts a literal community revolt. Even when Karina flies in from the Netherlands to drag Roy back to reality, he refuses to leave. He’s home, he’s staying, and he’s going to build “One People” if it kills him.

For a guy like me, who usually watches movies about people getting eaten by mutated swamp monsters, Wan Pipel is an absolutely fascinating watch. It has that raw, sun-baked, mid-70s aesthetic where everything feels intensely real, sweaty and slightly dangerous. It’s a movie caught between two worlds — just like Roy. On one hand, you have the gorgeous, lush backdrops of Paramaribo and the Surinamese landscape, and on the other, you have the heavy, heartbreaking weight of post-colonial trauma and racial tension.

Willeke van Ammelrooy is fantastic as the jilted Dutch girlfriend, bringing a weirdly tragic European perspective to a movie that is actively trying to break away from Europe. Borger Breeveld plays Roy with an earnest, stubborn intensity that makes you root for him even when he’s being an absolute disaster of a human being.

The Cult Epics release of this film features a new restored 2K transfer; commentary by film historians Lex Veerkamp and Bodil de la Parra; an introduction by Pim de la Parra; the making-of; an interview with Willeke van Ammelrooy by Guido Franken; and a bonus short film, Aah… Tamara, a gallery; trailers; new artwork design by Juan Esteban R.; a double-sided sleeve with original poster art and a slipcase. You can get it from MVD.