In Accused, Dutch actress and scriptwriter Moniek Kramer has managed to tastefully create a thrilling adaptation of what was a huge unraveling of injustice in the Dutch media.

Directed by Paula van der Oest and written by Kramer and Tijs van Marie, the courtroom drama was screened as part of the ongoing 2016 Europe on Screen event, running from April 29 to May 8.

Moviegoers are able to quench their thirst for suspense and hop on an emotional ride watching Accused, or Lucia de B in Dutch, which centers on nurse Lucia de Berk’s life sentence for allegedly murdering 7 patients and attempting to murder three others at a hospital where she worked.

The film slowly exposes a distortion of facts in Lucia’s trial, as Judith Jansen, an attorney for the prosecution, notices irregularities in statements from hospital staff and executives and also in other evidence. The distortion had lead to a “demonization” of Lucia by the press and the public – who labeled her as a serial killer and even an “angel of death”.

Besides Accused, Kramer, who attended the film’s screening at the Jakarta Arts Institute’s Art Cinema on May 3, has also written for the films Rembrandt and I, Simple Comme Bonjour and A Home for Vincent.

Kramer studied both directing and screenwriting at the Theatre School in Amsterdam, before graduating in 1977 and moving on with her career as a stage actress.

With Accused, Kramer has managed to tastefully create an adaptation of the thrilling case.

During discussion at the screening, Kramer said that she always finds a vital aspect of a film’s plot becomes the premise of the story.

“You have to know what the main character wants from the very beginning. This is called the ‘inciting incident’. From the inciting incident, you have to be between hope and fear until the crisis is over and the main character gets what he or she wants,” she said.

She encouraged the audience of film students and enthusiasts to revert back to the basics of story-telling. “We must always remember, for a protagonist [or] antagonist – what is the inciting incident? And it has to correspond with the crisis. Then what is the goal? What are the obstacles in between? That is structure.”

This opinion was reflected in Accused where she has combined facts and details from Lucia’s case without forgetting to transpose them to add drama, such as by using sharp dialogue and a subtle acceleration of tension.

In addition, the film does not discard moments of distress and sadness from Lucia’s relatives, allowing us to fully connect with and be a part of Lucia’s struggle. Throughout the film, the audience feels engaged and involved, allowing them to make assumptions and predictions as the story progresses. “It is important to know the rules [and] adapt the rules. If you are too precise, you will lose your audience,” she said.

Despite establishing a coherent structure, she said filmmakers are still free to experiment with where each scene is placed, while still maintaining the overall premise of the story.

In Lucia’s case, it is about perseverance in the midst of proving everyone wrong. “Your premise has to be felt in every scene,” she says.

Moniek Kramer - JP/Cemara Dinda

When talking about her inspirations, she insisted that aspiring scriptwriters devote a great deal of time to research, while adopting a learn-by-doing mindset. Only then will new ideas, concepts and dialogue surface.

“Continue, continue, continue. Keep on writing. Inspiration will come when you go back to structure [and] work on your character, because character is plot,” she said.

She encouraged aspiring filmmakers to have the courage to not succumb to a fear of telling the story, or telling the truth – a message quite similar to Lucia’s ordeal

The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post