Secrets of War

2015
7.1| 1h35m| en| More Info
Released: 31 May 2015 Released
Producted By: Katholieke Radio Omroep (KRO)
Country: Netherlands
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

Tuur and Lambert are best friends. But the war is closing in and is about to change their lives forever. Tuurs dad joined the resistance and even his big brother seems so be part of it. Lamberts family on the other hand choose to obey the Germans. Then a new girls from the city shows up, befriending the boys but telling her secret to only one of them. A choice that separates the boys and ultimately gets her in trouble.

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Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
GamerTab That was an excellent one.
Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
CabbageCustard A movie that is both powerful and yet gentle. Superbly acted by all concerned, especially the younger cast members, this movie is simultaneously heart-warming, suspenseful, clever and a damning indictment on war. You will smile and you may shed a tear or two. I have friends who refuse to watch movies which require subtitles. It means that they miss out on simple gems like this.
wrxsti54 These are the three important themes of this fantastic movie. Set in occupied Holland it begins with the bonding of two boys aged 12 or 13. The stars of the movie are Tuur and his friend Lambert. Their boys' retreat is a secret cave. As happens in early adolescence, Tuur starts to better see and more deeply question the complex world around him. He sees his best friend's family collaborating with the Nazis and being bullied for this and then learns by following the furtive actions of his father and older brother, that they are assisting the Dutch Resistance. He witnesses families being arrested and deported to camps in Germany for harboring Jews.Into this increasingly messy world tainted by the war steps Maartje, a pretty but shy girl who says her parents are recuperating in the south of Holland. Initially Maartje takes a fancy to Lambert who wants her to join the activities thus far the preserve of just the boys. Tuur is resentful at first but then develops a crush on Maartje. Pretty soon he only wants to hang out with her and not Lambert and Lambert feels rejected and left out.Maartje gradually reveals more serious secrets to Tuur: first that her adopted family house an illegal pig hidden from the German occupiers but, more explosively, that she is actually a Jewish girl called Tamar and that her parents were taken away to what she was told was a labor camp. Tuur tells Tamar of his family's clandestine resistance activities. They swear each other to secrecy.As happens when puppy love suddenly competes with what was hitherto a boys only world, Lambert becomes jealous of the time Tuur and Maartje are spending together and catches them playing in a barn with the illegal pig. Thinking only of his being spurned by his long time friend for a girl, Lambert advises his father who in turn tells the Germans who arrest the family, find a hidden box of photos with the evidence of Maartje's true identity which in turn leads to her arrest for deportation.Tuur cycles frantically to the town where Tamar is interned in time to see her being loaded onto a truck for deportation to a concentration camp. In one of the most poignant moments of the movie, Tuur breaks through German soldiers to throw a carved stone representation of an Olympic gold medal at Tamar, a gift he had been making for her as she is being hauled off to German incarceration sobbing with the realization of what her fate will be.Lambert realizes his single revelation has led to the imprisonment of his two best friends. Lambert persuades his German sympathizing father to release Tuur and Tuur arrives home just as his family's activities as resistance supporters are revealed and in a dramatic climax, the family escape to the cave only to be assisted by Lambert (who has joined the Dutch Hitler Youth to please his Nazi loving father) with flashlights and food to enable them to navigate a labyrinth of tunnels to escape to Belgium. There is a beautifully poignant moment of emotional embrace when the temporarily estranged friends unite in this dangerous act of assistance and departure as Lambert gives Tuur the box of Tamar's photos.This movie handles explosive issues of how people coped in occupied territories (collaborating versus secretly opposing), the issue of how Jews were treated and those who house them all through the eyes of children emerging into adolescence and the poignancy of first love against the horrors of betrayal and the omnipresent Germans and their campaign to root out Jews. The three child actors did a stunning job that really carries the movie; Maas Bronkhuyzen in particular as Tuur puts in a powerful performance. I recently had the privilege of meeting the director Dennis Bots. He said Maas (playing Tuur) and Joes (playing Lambert) were so good as actors that they did that incredibly moving scene in only one take after Dennis explained to them what he wanted. The tension in the movie builds gradually and climaxes with powerful even tear jerking scenes!
Abigail Smith This coming-of-age story is acted and executed brilliantly. With WWII is looming over their heads, the three central characters in this story continue to live a fairly normal childhood--mastering the art of friendship, experiencing first love, and catching glimpses of enchantment and make-believe only available to the very young. One small act of jealousy, however, changes everything, and they are forced to grow up far too soon.The plot is so believable it breaks your heart; the loyalty that endures throughout makes this movie a timeless classic. As for the subtitles (for us English speakers), I hardly noticed them, and my three-year-old daughter understood what was happening without any decipherable words at all.
john-biss I cannot vote because I need to see the film first ! This seems not possible here in Canada at present. Can you supply a viewing privilege or purchase of the CD ? I am currently living outside the Montreal area and foreign films are shown in Montreal movie houses frequently. But to wait could take ages and I would really prefer to see it as soon as is possible because, as you can see from my age, time flies ! The rest I need to fill because of the minimum requirement which obviously makes me a vociferous person ! So I have to resort to a filler of sorts to satisfy this preprogrammed requirement, which I am desperately trying to meet (not being a man of many words !)