Boys' Own-style war adventure...
3 stars (out of 5)
Director: Martin Koolhoven
Cast: Martijn Lakemeier, Yorick van Wageningen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Raymond Thiry, Melody Klaver, Anneke Blok, Mees Peijnenburg
Rating: (M)
With a glut of European World War 2 epics in the past couple of years, one might wonder why the Dutch are now having a go.
However, Winter in Wartime doesn't so much deal with the ideology of World War 2 as use the conflict for a Boys' Own adventure yarn.
Through the eyes of 14-year-old Michiel (Martijn Lakemeier), Winter in Wartime examines the interaction between isolated Dutch residents of a rural town and their German overseers. Incensed that the adults aren't contributing enough to the Resistance, Michiel starts sniffing around where he should not and stumbles upon Jack (Jamie Campbell Bower), an English pilot cowering in a bunker with a broken leg.
That is about as deep as its gets.
Will Michiel succeed in smuggling Jack through German lines to safety? Throw in a token romantic sub-plot and a faintly disguised plot twist and you have history packaged for the game-playing generation.
As a rampaging rollick through a snow-dusted landscape, Winter in Wartime is quite entertaining and incredibly visual. It deserves to be seen on film and in the extra wide frame intended. Just don't expect to be enlightened about the Dutch Resistance, the German leaders, or how Jack ended up hiding in a Dutch forest.
Best thing: The slow motion sequences. Used sparingly they elevate what could have been quite drab material.
Worst thing: Detail. The film brushes over the history in an attempt to keep the action alive.
See it with: Your children. Whether it was consciously intended or not, it is pitched at a younger age group.
- Mark Orton
