Monday, January 18, 2016

Movie Review: ****^The Secrets of War (2013)

This movie was made in the Netherlands, and it is presented in Dutch with English subtitles.  Even so, it does a great job of telling its story.  I found the story very disturbing.  This is a WWII era story, where a community in the Netherlands is torn apart by the Nazi occupation, and the evacuation of the Jewish population to concentration camps.  This is mostly kept from the children of the community.  However, the community is dividing.  Some children join the Nazi Youth, and other families wouldn't have their children in this program.  Of course the mayor's son is part.  He plays a role in having some community members arrested for harboring a jew.  Tuur (Maas Bronkhuyzen) and Lambert (Joes Brauers), the mayor's younger son with a club foot, are best friends.  They do many things together, including exploring a cave, where they find English comic books.  Father warns him not to snoop.  However he does, and discovers his own father is part of the resistance.  A new girl comes to town, Maartje (Pippa Allen) and only tells Tuur that she is Jewish and in hiding.  When Lambert becomes jealous of his friend, having a new friend, he goes to the home and discovers a hidden pig.  He inadvertently mentions this to his own father, the mayor, and then everything goes wrong.  However, there is still some hope for the friendship, as Lambert can help his friend and his family one last time before they flee the country.

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