Walt speaks of being "different," and says to Jeroen that when he saw him, he knew that Jeroen was his "kind of guy."Īs the film winds down to its bittersweet conclusion, one can't help but be amazed at Maarten Smit's achievement. Not only do Walt and Jeroen not speak the same language, they don't even have the language to express what they are. The film-makers handle sensitive material with great dexterity and honesty, expertly portraying the problems of communication.
As their relationship matures, Walt provides Jeroen with his first sexual experience. As Walt lifts and tosses Jeroen in the air, it is apparent that Walt signifies liberation in more ways than one for Jeroen. The scene serves as the emblem for the movie. Walt becomes Jeroen's friend, and in a striking scene, teaches Jeroen how to dance to jitterbug and the jive. One particular soldier, the handsome Walt Cook (Andrew Kelley), catches Jeroen's attention. Their uniforms, their weapons, their language, their music and their CocaCola and cigarettes impress the villagers. Meanwhile, Canadian soldiers arrive to liberate the village. As puberty begins, Jeroen realizes that he is attracted to men, but he finds no one with whom to share his feelings.
However, the film really finds its stride in the second half. Kerbosch adds lovely grace notes, such as Jeroen's discovery of a downed Allied plane in the sea, and takes full advantage of the luminous and austerely beautiful Friesian countryside. Though this first part of the film covers familiar territory, Kerbosch's understated direction renders a potentially hackneyed situation fresh. Little by little, however, Jeroen adjusts. The audience can feel Jeroen's desperation at being trapped in a picture-perfect family where everyone has red-cheeked country soul brims with strapping good health. He finds himself a city kid in the country, where everything, even the language, is different. Though his mother has sent him to Friesland for his own good, Jeroen feels abandoned by her. Smit and director Roeland Kerbosch do a good job of depicting Jeroen's multifold alienation. 12-year old Jeroen (Maarten Smit) goes to live with Hair (Feark Smink) and Mem (Elsje de Wijn). Jeroen's sentimental journey serves as the core of a lyrical and affecting film.ĭuring the Winter Hunger of 1944, children from the ravaged west of the country were taken in by farmers and fishermen in the northern province of Friesland, where food was plentiful and the German presence slight. However, the death of his wartime foster father forces Jeroen to confront what happened to him as a child during the liberation. At the beginning of the new Dutch film "For a Lost Soldier," Jeroen Boman (Jeroen Krabbe'), a famous choreographer, is having trouble with the creation of his new ballet based on the American liberation of the Netherlands.
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