Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
Stars Martijn Lakemeier, Jamie Campbell Bower, Yorick van Wageningen,
Melody Klaver | Written by Mieke de Jong, Martin Koolhoven & Paul Jan Nelissen
UK Certification 15 | UK RRP £17.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 100 minutes | Directed by Martin Koolhoven
Don't be fooled in any way by the title into thinking that Winter in Wartime is a war film. Instead the Second World War acts as the devastating backdrop for a tense coming of age drama from the Netherlands that impresses with its fittingly slow-burning story, excellent performances, atmosphere and cinematography.
Towards the end of the war and, as you would expect, in the dead of winter, Michiel, a boy in his early teens and son of the local mayor, discovers a wounded British soldier hiding out in the woods in a secret shelter after his plane was shot down. With nothing but hate for the Nazi occupants, who he is forced to get along with by his father, Michiel lends his help to the soldier, providing him with food and medical aid courtesy of his sister, who works as a nurse. The teenager then decides that it is up to him to risk life and limb in order to assist the soldier to safety, so he can make his way back to England.
As the snow constantly falls throughout the film, Michiel sees things that no one should, let alone a youth, and the boy becomes a man. The horrific realities of war dawn on him and he becomes no longer just a spectator of it all, but personally a part of it. The way his character develops from start to finish is terrific, and when the 100 minutes are up, there is an incredibly stark difference between how the film ends and the opening, which shows him having a whale of a time with his best friend, as purely an innocent kid. War itself never changes, but it changes people, and Michiel is one of them, portrayed fantastically by Martijn Lakemeier, a young man to watch in the landscape of European films. The entire picture would have fallen flat had it not had such a brilliant lead. The whole cast in fact is made up of stunningly good actors and they all deliver. There simply is no room for just decent performers in this film, they had to be great to fulfill the roles written to such strength in the script and they are.
Winter in Wartime, an adaptation of the 1975 novel by Jan Terlouw, is intensely dramatic and harrowingly beautiful. In its beauty, a natural winter wonderland sits in the shadow of the Nazis, featuring some delectable camerawork amongst the incredibly thick, snow-capped woodland that lies beyond the sleepy village where Michiel resides. The very woods that serve as the British soldier's hiding place, haunted by the Nationalist Socialist Party plague that looms through the trees. A fine film indeed and a real triumph for Dutch cinema.
EXTRAS Unfortunately there are none, which is a real disappointment for a film so enjoyable and well-made. I know that there are a ton of extras in existence that could have been used, because in the Netherlands there is a special edition release which contains three discs. Perhaps we'll see a meatier second edition if the film sells as highly as I rate it.