Set in a boring small town in the Netherlands, "Van God Los" (Godforsaken) introduces us initially to a teenager boy named Stan, who is indifferent to the world around him, especially to his schooling. Led by his desire for a bit more excitement in life, he skips school regularly and is usually found 'on the street.' One day, there is a chance encounter between Stan and a local thug named Maikel, who comes rushing into the bar in an attempt to escape from the local police. Maikel stuffs a bag of drug into Stan's coat and walks away. Short time afterwards, Stan meets again with Maikel in his car, and they form a partnership based on the exciting but dangerous life of drug trafficking and robbery.

Stan cannot help but to be annoyed by the presence of Maikel's friend, Sef, which Stan tells us that he is a chronic drug addict. It is Sef's clouded judgments and information that feeds into Maikel's actions, causing Maikel to make some foolish errors. One such night, Maikel and Sef go out to rob from one of their customers, and ends up 'accidentially' killing the guy. The news spread fast in the town, and the local Turkish mafia can guess who has done it. Soon enough, the duo comes into contact with the Turkish godfather, who starts giving them contracts to kill people. The duo readily accepts this new role since it brings them some income and more action. Despite these, it does nothing but to cause more turbulence in their lives, as they become disassociated from reality.

We also meet Maikel's girlfriend, Anna. Anna is the kind of girl who can have any boy she can have; yet she is attracted to Maikel's shady character. Of course, her parents are against this relationship, so Stan acts as a pinch-hit boyfriend in order to get Anna out of the house so that Anna can see Maikel. Throughout the film, we can see that Anna is disturbed by the crimes that the duo has committed, yet she remains with them, probably due to the excitement that it brings to her life. Soon enough, Maikel becomes more and more violent towards her sexually, and one day, she is pregnant, even though she doesn't want to be. We see a struggle of the desires between the couple, and how Stan starts assuming responsiblity for protecting Anna (somewhat from Maikel).

This film is nothing but a gritty and depressing story, yet I was captivated by the storyline and how things kept happening. We see the tragic effects of the actions that the main characters have upon the others in the film, and how the main characters are oblivious to that. It is important to note that we need to choose our friends and our actions wisely, and to think about the consequences that our actions may have on our friends or others. The film is also raw and plausible to even think that it could occur in the real life, which actually is loosely based on a real story of some gangs in the Dutch city of Venlo. I give this film 3 stars.