By Friso Endt 

The Netherlands has been in something of a panic forweeks in anticipation of Geert Wilders's anti-Muslim movie, Fitna. Wilders, thebleach blond Dutch populist whose Party of Freedom holds 9 seats in Parliament,went on a rant last fall when he announced his intentions to make the film,which he had promised by April 1. Three weeks ago, the Dutch ChristianDemocrat/ Labour/ Calvinist Christian Union coalition began warning Dutchcitizens living and working of attacks by Muslim extremists in response to themovie. Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, the baby-faced ex-professor, talkedfearfully on television about an impending "crisis". His address onlyserved to draw the world's attention to Wilders--television audiences in SaudiArabia, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia covered the brouhaha. InKabul, protesters burned Dutch and Danish flags (memories linger of thenotorious anti-Mohammed cartoons) and demanded the immediate withdrawal ofDutch NATO troops.

That was before anybody had seen the film. For a while,it looked like no one would. Wilders couldn't find a television station to airit or an Internet service provider who would post it. He was close to givingup, when on Thursday evening the UK firm FilmLeak.com posted it on its Web site.

As expected, the 16-minute film is designed not toenlighten but to incite hatred. It's a hodgepodge of news clips, using imagesof the attacks on the New York World Trade Center, the London Underground andthe Madrid Railway station juxtaposed with the face of an unnamed Iman, whosays, "What makes Allah happy? Allah is happy when non Muslims are beingkilled." The flim ends with a depiction of Mohammed-from Danish cartoonistKurt Westergaardt-with a bomb in his hands. After one hour on the site, twomillion Dutch people had seen the film and 200,000 viewers had watched theEnglish language version. Wilders claimed six million people had seen it.

In trying to isolate Dutch Muslims, Wilders seems to havedone the opposite. The film was roundly criticized in the media as"cheap," "empty" and "bourgeois." "It's old,already years old news, and tells nothing new or exciting," one newseditorsaid on Dutch television. The reaction of Dutch Muslims was muted. "This moviehas no quality," says Mohammed Ayoutaleb, the Moroccon -bornDutch-educated Under Minister of Social Affairs. When cameras of Al Jazeeraappeared before The Hague's biggest mosque on Friday to report the event, theImam urged people not to stoop to criticism of Wilders or his film. "Let'signore it and him," he said. Another young Muslim leader said: "Ofcourse we have ethical problems [with the movie]. But most of us are also ofDutch nationality and we are proud to have that."

Dutch Justice Minister  Hirsch Ballin Friday morning thanked the the country'sMuslims for showing restraint.  Polls on Saturday morning showed that, were elections held then, Wilders'party would have lost three seats Parliament.