01-24-2009, 07:17 PM
Winter in Wartime: a Dutch movie based on a well-known book that many children have read. Except for a slightly ridiculous chase, I found it better than I had expected.
It is about the Second World War in the Netherlands; a boy unexpectedly becomes responsible for a British pilot who has been shot down by the Germans. The boy's solitude is shown pretty convincingly, and you can also feel some of his dilemmas. It must be confusing if your father is mayor of the village and has to do business with the Germans; if the pilot you have started to like as your older brother, is more interested in your sister; when a German saves your life; and when the occupiers shoot people because they can not find the British soldier who has killed a German soldier. And of course, in the end, not everyone is what he seems to be.
The boy actor plays surprisingly well, but the greatest surpise was perhaps the casting of the English pilot: a very young man, which reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's phrase that the liberation of Europe by the Allies was a "Children's Crusade". The IMDB gives the movie 7.8 out of 10, and although I suspect most votes are from Dutch users, I think it is a fair judgment of this movie. Recommended.
It is about the Second World War in the Netherlands; a boy unexpectedly becomes responsible for a British pilot who has been shot down by the Germans. The boy's solitude is shown pretty convincingly, and you can also feel some of his dilemmas. It must be confusing if your father is mayor of the village and has to do business with the Germans; if the pilot you have started to like as your older brother, is more interested in your sister; when a German saves your life; and when the occupiers shoot people because they can not find the British soldier who has killed a German soldier. And of course, in the end, not everyone is what he seems to be.
The boy actor plays surprisingly well, but the greatest surpise was perhaps the casting of the English pilot: a very young man, which reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's phrase that the liberation of Europe by the Allies was a "Children's Crusade". The IMDB gives the movie 7.8 out of 10, and although I suspect most votes are from Dutch users, I think it is a fair judgment of this movie. Recommended.
