Winter in Wartime

A coming-of-age story told against the background of the final months of World War II in the Nazi-controlled Netherlands, Martin Koolhoven's Winter in Wartime is a deliberately-paced, powerful drama adapted from a semiautobiographical 1972 novel by Dutch author Jan Terlouw. The story focuses on Michiel (Martijn Lakemeier), the adolescent son of town mayor Johan (Raymond Thiry), a man forced to maintain a friendly relationship with the Germans, much to the boy's discomfort. Michiel finds himself directly drawn into the fray after he discovers wounded British paratrooper Jack (Jamie Campbell Bower) in the woods and decides to help him, enlisting the aid of his nurse sister, Erica (Melody Klaver), and uncle Ben (Yorick van Wageningen), who is connected with the Resistance. But the task becomes dangerous after the Nazis find the body of a German soldier Jack killed and they begin reprisals. In the aftermath, distinctions between collaborators and Resistance fighters are blurred by betrayal, while romance inevitably blossoms between Erica and Jack. The plot strands might not sound terribly original, but they're effectively deployed by Koolhoven to generate tension as the film moves toward a conclusion of genuine emotional complexity. Both an effective portrait of a boy's maturation under the stress of war and a thoughtful rumination on the nature of heroism, Winter in Wartime touches the heart without insulting one's intelligence. Highly recommended. [Note: Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (25 min.), the BD-Live function, trailers, and a bonus DVD copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a powerful film.] (F. Swietek)