The Clearing

True story, based on the kidnapping of Gerrit Jan Heijn, CEO of the Dutch Ahold Supermarket Holding. On September 9, 1987, Heijn was kidnapped and killed on the same day by Ferdi Elsas, an unemployed engineer. Elsas, however, demanded ransom money from the victim's family, thereby fuelling their hopes that Heijn was still alive for several weeks. The family paid the ransom, but Elsas did not respond to any of their subsequent pleas to return the victim safely. Elsas was arrested about seven months later when he was caught spending some of the ransom money; he admitted to the kidnapping and murder, and told the Police where the body was buried. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison. Released in 2001, he moved to a small town with his wife. On August 3, 2009, he was riding his bicycle and failed to give right of way to a digger, which ran him over, leading to his death on the same day.

When both men are climbing through the woods, Wayne pauses to rest, and Arnold cocks his handgun and discharges it, aiming for, and hitting the trunk of a nearby tree, to show that he means business. The sound overdubbed is the distinctive sound of a hammer being locked into position, consistent with a revolver, but the handgun Arnold is holding is actually small automatic. The sound effect should be that of a 'rack and slide'.

For ALAN J. PAKULA

Featured in Anatomy of a Scene: The Clearing (2004)