Winter in Wartime (2008)

Good start, but then it gets ruined

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Aristides-2 and malcolmgw have already mentioned some of the holes in the plot that you can drive a truck through, such as Jack's leg being broken and rotting away one day but being magically healed when he clambers across a river along the underside of a bridge on the very next day.Aside from absurd details like this, the historical premise of the movie is unrealistic. The events portrayed are supposed to have happened in January 1945, at a time when the Germans were running from the Russians in the East and mobilized their last reserves of manpower, weaponry, and fuel for the futile Battle of the Bulge in the West. And yet this movie will have us believe that, just then, a whole company or so of German soldiers - all young men in their prime, well- fed, well-armed and -motorized, spic and span - are tasked with playing cat and mouse all day long with a bunch of hapless villagers in the Dutch countryside? And that, with 5 years of battlefield experience, none of them can hit a standing target at 50 paces?I get that the makers of movies are more interested in human virtues and morals than in historical facts, but it nevertheless detracts from a move when the historical background is so poorly treated.

"Winter in Wartime" is a Dutch film based on a young adult novel of the same name by Jan Terlouw. The protagonist is a pre-teen named Michiel who is the son of a provincial town's mayor during Nazi Occupation in the waning days of World War II. Michiel is ashamed of his father, perceiving that he's too cozy with the Germans but is actually doing the best he can given the dire circumstances of living under Nazi rule. When Uncle Ben, an apparent member of the Resistance, returns home, Michiel is overjoyed that there is at least someone in the family who is actually a "man of action." Later, in a nice twist, we find out that appearances are deceiving.The bulk of the film concerns a British pilot who is forced to a make a crash landing in the forest and ends up killing a German soldier in order to save himself. Michiel stumbles upon the pilot's hideout and decides to help him. There is a strong scene where Michiel's father is taken away in reprisal for the discovery of the dead soldier, shot by the British pilot. Michiel counts on Uncle Ben who promises to pull some strings; but as we later learn, the father heroically refuses to let someone take his place, and is put in front of a firing squad by orders of the top Nazi commander in the village.All this is quite educational for a young adult viewer eager to learn more about the Nazis and their modus operandi viz-a-viz the Dutch in World War II. But Winter in Wartime goes awry in the awkward plot machinations served up in the second half of the narrative. Most unconvincing is that chase featuring Michiel and the British pilot, ensconced in an old rickety buggy versus a bunch of Germans in a fast moving automobile. Their escape into the woods simply does not pass the simplest of litmus tests. Another thing that bothered me was that the German soldiers had a close-up view of Michiel when he was stopped right before their madcap escape. Wouldn't the Nazis back in town have recognized MIchiel from the description, realizing he was the kid who helped the pilot to escape?Also quite unbelievable is the British pilot's escape, as he moves like an acrobat, on the underside of a well-watched bridge. And do we also need the aside of the sister having a bout of sex with the pilot? No doubt the films' scenarists reasoned that this would be appealing to a young adult audience. Finally, in terms of criticism, things don't move fast enough in the plot to save the pilot. There are just too many visits to the hideaway and when we get to the climactic chase scene, it's a big letdown.Winter in Wartime does make the welcome point that there were collaborators in Holland during this time. SUPER SPOILERS AHEAD. So it's a welcome twist when the seemingly heroic Uncle Ben morphs into the dastardly friend of the Nazis and must be disposed of by Michiel, who is forced to shoot his Uncle upon threat that he'll be turned into the Nazis by his own flesh and blood.Winter in Wartime is basically a by-the-numbers treatise on the Nazi occupation in Holland. For young viewers, it's a basic introduction to what the local population had to deal with during this point in history. If only there was more of an attempt to dispense with contrivances in the plot. Had this been done, Winter in Wartime could possibly have approached being a classic.

Cold January 1945. The end of war is near, but danger seems to be even more present. Nothing is more dangerous than the cornered animal. And Germans were trapped and vicious. Young Michiel, on the verge of manhood, ashamed of his collaborator father, gets involved in the war. Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems. Heroes are not always what they appear to be, neither are traitors. Those are the lessons that Michiel learns in the last few months of a bloodiest war world ever seen. Growing up is hard enough as it is, and this young man does it with courage and dignity way beyond his tender age. Beautifully filmed and acted.

WINTER IN WARTIME (Oorlogswinter) is a stunning and intensely involving film that explores the damages war inflicts on all those involved. It is based on the life of Dutch author Jan Terlouw whose novel by the same name reflects the fact that the author spent five harrowing years under Nazi occupation of Holland in WW II: it has been sensitively and successfully adapted for the screen by Mieke de Jong, Paul Jan Nelissen and writer/director Martin Koolhoven. The title of the film commands every aspect of the story - the colors of a nearly black and white cinematography, the cold atmosphere that intensifies the desperation of war and of coming of age and the bleak aftermath of a war torn country.The time is January 1945. Michiel Van Beusekom (and impressive debut by Martijn Lakemeier) is 13 years old, facing the usual stresses of coming of age accentuated by the fact that his village is occupied by Nazi soldiers. Michiel's father Johan (Raymond Thiry) is the town's Bürgermeister (mayor) and attempts to pacify the Nazis whenever possible to protect his town - a fact that Michiel finds disgusting, as though his father was a Nazi sympathizer. Despite this disparity in viewing the atmosphere in the town, Michiel and Johan have a tender relationship as well. There is a crash of a British RAF plane just outside the town and Michiel and his friends inspect the plane, taking souvenirs, and then finding that the pilot Jack (Jamie Campbell Bower - now King Arthur in the television series Camelot) survived but is wounded. Michiel and Jack become friends and Michiel brings his sister Erica (Melody Klaver) who is a nurse to tend to the leg wound Jack incurred as he parachuted to safety. Erica and Jack form a relationship beyond nurse/patient status and Jack gives Michiel a package that is to be sent to England.In the midst of the action Michiel's favorite uncle Ben (Yorick van Wageningen) arrives and moves in with the family: he is apparently hiding from the Nazis and becomes Michiel's confidant in his care of the British pilot. Michiel thus becomes a part of the resistance movement and when the Nazis discover a dead comrade (a Nazi killed by Jack when he crashed landed) they intensify their search for traitors. Michiel works to help Jack escape, but someone must pay for the death of a Nazi soldier and it is the revelation of the family's surprising response that brings the film to a nail-biting close. The secrets of who is honest and who is a traitor become apparent. Michiel has become the hero of the story but at a very high price - the price of human conflict that war demands and receives.The cast is thoroughly solid and it is refreshing to note that the humanistic sides of both the Dutch villagers and the Nazi occupiers are made evident instead of the usual bad guy/good guy stereotypes. This is another fine movie about WW II and the effects of that heinous time on the youth who survived it. Highly recommended. In Dutch and German and English with English subtitles.Grady Harp