Winter in Wartime

Vooral de laatste 30 min zijn een soapy trainwreck.

Martin Koolhoven and his convincing cast set up this brumal, melancholy film's tense second half with warmly understood streaks of genuine naivete to create an involving, touching and subtly symbolic coming-of-age tale set in a world where any spare word or glance could cause disaster, a time and place when childhood was a luxury few families, or nations, could afford.

While this was well shot and had good acting, this film in the end left me feeling like an outsider looking in on the events in the film and never drew me in emotionally.

Beautifully shot and directed but is only intermittently emotionally involving with a more-or-less passable depiction of life's transition from youthful, adventurous naivete to cold, brutal reality.

Leans a bit heavily on the slow-motion, but is otherwise a solid drama about a kid playing war. Very much in the vein of 'Empire of the Sun'.

A boy's coming of age story set during WW2. Refreshing, memorable.

"Winter in Wartime is nothing more or less than a skillfully directed, good-looking coming-of-age tale." - Andrew Schenker

If they made it a bit grittier, it would have been a good movie. Also the hunger-winter issue itself is a bit underdeveloped. The documentary on the dvd-extra made more impact on me.

Usually I stay away from Dutch cinema but I made an exception for this film because the trailer intrigued me. I was not disappointed - I liked the film because of the fresh perspective of a young teen on the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. I also liked the subtlety that this film offers. Recommended for those interested in WWII.