Does the world need another film about World War II? That conflict must be re-created on film more than any other. Is there anything left to say about the terror Hitler perpetuated on Europe and the wildly varying reactions to it? The Academy thinks so. It put “Winter in Wartime” on the shortlist this year for best foreign language film. And with good reason — the Dutch film is gripping from beginning to end. On its release in the Netherlands three years ago, it beat “Twilight” and “The Dark Night” at the box office. It won’t do such business here, of course. But it deserves to find an audience. The themes of loyalty, collaboration, hypocrisy and principle at the heart of so many European films about the war are freshly explored here, from the eyes of a young teenager. The 2008 British film “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” looked at the Holocaust from the view of a young boy. The one at the center of “Winter in Wartime” is older — 14 — and so more knowing and more disappointed in the choices made by the adults around him.
Print subscriber? Click here to login/register your account
Digital subscriber? Click here to login/register your account.