Critic Reviews

• Tom Long, Detroit News

  Writer-director Martin Koolhoven hits just the right balance of domesticity and oppression here, setting up the film's tense second half with sweet early touches of naivete.

• Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

  It's got a grown-up artfulness, but "Winter in Wartime" could become a lot of boys' favorite movie.

• Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post

  What makes "Winter" really special is its complex exploration of the theme of heroism.

• Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

  Director Martin Koolhoven's film about one boy's struggle to make sense of the absurd - of the inhumanity of war and its effects on everyone around him.

• Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

  Winter in Wartime benefits from top-notch production values and a sturdy performance from its young lead, Martijn Lakemeier.

• Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

  If you've seen one slow-motion "Noooooooo!" as a firing squad lets loose, you've seen 'em all.

• Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune News Service

  A most involving and touching coming of age tale set in a time and place when childhood was a luxury few families or nations could afford.

• Eric Melin, Scene-Stealers.com

  Shot beautifully and it evokes its setting well, but sometimes the movie relies a little too much on plot trickery and not enough on the emotional state of its main character.

• Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

  Spielbergian touches...a good enough mainstream drama, but one can't help but feel it's a missed opportunity to give Terlouw a more textured treatment.

• Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review

  ... strong and natural performances ...

• Rob Thomas, Capital Times (Madison, WI)

  Sometimes familiarity is a good thing, and Koolhoven combines two familiar kinds of stories - the resistance drama and the coming-of-age drama - in a compelling way.

• Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

  ...a naive story that has some of the dreamy qualities of a remembered myth

• Keith Cohen, Entertainment Spectrum

  The acting is superb, with Lakemeier the anchor surrounded by a talented ensemble. The soundtrack is effective in ratcheting up the suspense. Other strengths are the cinematography, sound and production design.

• Loey Lockerby, Kansas City Star

  Director Martin Koolhoven, adapting Jan Terlouw's 1972 novel, maintains the constant tension of a world where every stray word or glance could lead to tragedy.

• Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle

  This is an often emotionally harrowing depiction of a young idealist running smack into the brutal reality of occupied life.

• John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

  Visually unremarkable, and worse than that when Koolhoven tries too hard: During a dramatic execution scene, the film shifts to slow-motion and the soundtrack becomes awash in angelic, choral harmonies; the effect is kitschy and bathetic.

• Josh Bell, Las Vegas Weekly

  Winter in Wartime doesn't reinvent the World War II drama, but it doesn't have to; it works solidly within the genre with affecting if predictable results.

• Tony Macklin, tonymacklin.net

  Winter in Wartime is an evocative Dutch movie about Michiel, a youthful adolescent coming of age in Nazi-occupied Holland in January 1945. The film is full of symbols that give depth and texture to Michiel's fateful journey.

• Sarah Boslaugh, Playback:stl

  ...carries an R rating in the U.S., which means that not many children the age of the young protagonist (13) will get to see it, yet it has too many hallmarks of a juvenile film to satisfy most adults.

• Justin Strout, Orlando Weekly

  Here's the film's biggest obstacle: It's patently ridiculous.

Read all 22 critic reviews