Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

webnetca This movie did not feel right for the relationship he was portraying - a love affair between a 20 something guy and a boy just reaching puberty. It is a love story.I've met adults who've had sex with boys this age and I've met adults who had sex with adults when they were this age. Things just didn't fit so I got the book and read it. There is very little relationship between the book and the movie other than title, place and time frame. The book is a story about the repeated rape of a boy.The thing that bothered me about this mediocre movie was the lack of any emotional content. It seemed like there was emotion but there wasn't. The book which unfolds entirely differently than the movie also lacks real emotion, just what I'd expect from an adult, the author, who was raped at a tender age. An 11 year old boy who has an emotional warm sexualized relationship with an adult does not lead an emotionless life as an adult. One who is raped, sex with no emotion and unwanted, usually becomes an emotionless adult whose main emotional expression is ready anger.Get the book. It is worth reading. Skip the movie.

gradyharp FOR A LOST SOLDIER (Voor een verloren soldaat) is a 1992 Dutch film based on a novel by Rudi van Dantzig, adapted for the screen by Don Bloch, and directed by Roeland Kerbosch whose understanding of the concept of love is remarkably sensitive. Some viewers may mislabel this film as inappropriate celebration of 'abnormal life styles' and that would be a sad comment on the level of consciousness that hopefully we have overcome. Erase all old tapes and view this beautiful film as a pure exploration of the human being's ability to love and perhaps it will become the classic it deserves to be. The film is a reverie: a choreographer Jeroen Boman (Jeroen Krabbé) is distracted from his work by words and ideas and scenes that make him recall his childhood, and what follows is an explanation of his origins. The memory goes back to Holland in the 1940s as WW II is growing ever more a threat of Germany's determination to control the world. Because of the threat of invasion and because of the paucity of food and essentials to living the families begin to send their children in trucks to the countryside where the children will be fed and protected by farmers far enough away from the cities to possibly escape annihilation by the German forces. Maarten Smit appears as the young Jeroen Boman, transported to a farm where he feels out of place and quickly makes friends with another 'outsider'. Together they discover a crashed airplane in a field and Jeroen begins to get in touch with his feelings. Shortly the Canadians land in the little village to provide protection for the people, and while the soldiers all are attracted to the acutely available and willing girls, one soldier Walt Cook (Andrew Kelley) sites Jeroen and treats him well: the two are indeed separated by age but Walt is very young and very kind and gives Joeran the attention he longs for. Very gradually and very subtly Walt and Jeroen find a mutual love and the two, isolated and lonely, begin a love affair - an affair while very strong in feeling is handled so delicately that it seems completely natural. Eventually the Canadian troops are to leave and Walt departs on his own, leaving Jeroen to the returning attention of his family as they come to gather him home. As the flashbacks reveal it is this memory of first love that the adult Jeroen is trying to capture in his choreographic story. The film ends with memories of the past evaporating in the air, memories that remain indelible in the adult Jeroen's mind. The entire cast is excellent, but it is the very straightforward demonstration of love between Andrew Kelley and Maarten Smit, under the wise guidance of director Roeland Kerbosch that makes this film so memorable. it belongs in the personal library of all those who respect courage and delicacy in the art of filmmaking. Grady Harp

bill-894 A friend urged me to watch this movie and I did so with absolutely no idea of what it was about.Everything others have said about it is true but still I feel very uneasy about the subject matter and the "acceptable" way in which it is portrayed.This little boy is just that, a little boy and whether you're straight or gay, relationships between adults and children are taboo. The validity of that taboo can be argued but it exists not to protect the adult but to protect the child.An interesting movie but the subject matter prevents it from being great.

mdm-11 The many favorable reviews hailing this film as a cinematic delight are well taken. The delicate subject matter of a brief romantic relationship between an allied WWII soldier and a young boy in the occupied Nehterlands received a beautiful treatment. Without becoming lurid or vulgar, it is implied that the innocent "child" and the young soldier engaged in a sex act.Many layers of sub-plots surround the story. The people in the village setting appear deeply religious, constantly learning how to be proper followers of Scriptural guidance. Sermons given to the locals, amidst the visiting soldiers are both thankful for the liberators' arrival, yet warning the "young women" not to be tempting these men to be lead astray. It was a subtle switch from preaching in Englsih, to the native Dutch that showed who the audience for that particular part of the sermon was.There are many references to sexual tensions. The teenage boys suddenly notice the physical beauty in teenage girls. Without doubt, there was plenty of "fraternizing" between soldiers and local women. The scene where the young main character is out "exploring" with a slightly older boy is charged with sexual innuendo. The boy's "step father" is quite observant about the "goings on", yet offers no direct objections, only indirect and vague advice.The question of whether a mere child can give consent to sexual activity with an adult remains. The picture of the soldiers who came to liberate the town is one of men who felt entitlement. They felt they had every right to "have fun" after saving the people from their evil oppressors. Although the young girls, and even our 12 year old main character, were willing participants in any "affairs", the sense that the soldiers felt entitled to receive whatever they desired in exchange for their desperately needed Military help, and the many hand-outs of Life-Savers, Gum, Cigarettes etc. changes nothing about their feeling of power over the situation.For a grown man, a love affair of a few days can hardly be considered "love", but for a child whose innocence is forever lost, this is an affair they will never forget. Love is something not to be trifled with. A child's innocence should be regarded with no less respect. Whatever the "feelings" of the heart may have been, a 12 year old does well to give it a bit more time before seeking that first love.