Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

First love can be hell. For all its nature and beauty, first love can also be cruel, painful, and draining. For those of us who felt the pangs of such intense feeling at a young age, we more than likely remember with fondness the object of our affection, and most of us probably even wonder whatever became of that person.

That is the basis for director Roeland Kerbosch's tender, eloquent coming-of-age story about first love, Voor een Verloren Soldaat (aka For a Lost Soldier), a film that has been both celebrated for its heart-wrenching honesty and vilified for its depiction of a relationship between a young man and a young boy. Set near the end of World War II, the film tells the simple story of young Jeroen (Maarten Smit), a 12-year-old boy separated from his parents when he is evacuated from Amsterdam and sent to live with a host family in the rural village of Freisland, North Holland. There, Jeroen falls into a simple way of life with his foster parents (Freark Smink, Elsje de Wijn) and their children, making a friend in local boy Jan (Derk-Jan Kroon), and doing his best not to miss his real family too much. When the village is liberated by Canadian soldiers at the end of the war, Jeroen meets the handsome Walt (Andrew Kelley), and they form a friendship that starts out innocently enough, yet soon develops into "something more."

Told in flashback as the memory of the adult Jeroen (Jeroen Krabbe'), the film is a melancholy and bittersweet treatise on childhood and first love, a virtual love letter to a past that the adult Jeroen cannot escape. It does not shy away from its subject matter, presenting it in a matter-of-fact manner that, for some (especially those with children of their own), might be very off-putting, nor does it present its story in a leering and sensationalist manner; this is definitely no Lolita. Though some may see it differently, the movie is not a celebration of pedophilia, nor does it glorify its subect matter. Indeed, the adult Jeroen himself doesn't seem to quite understand the ramifications of what happened to him as a boy, but it is clear that he knows that his life was affected in a profound way by the experience of knowing Walt, and it's hard not to see that there is genuine affection shared between the two. (For those who might scoff at the notion of presenting such a relationship on film, it must be noted that the movie is based upon book by Rudi Van Dantzig, a memoir of sorts in which he recounted his affair with the Canadian soldier represented by Walt. It is, in fact, a true story.)

To fairly judge this film, it is necessary to distance one's self from feelings about the subject matter. Viewed solely as a story, it is an eloquently constructed film, similar in tone and scope to both Hope and Glory and Empire of the Sun, films which also depicted the experiences of young boys in wartime. The performances, especially by Smit as young Jeroen, Kelley as the dashing Walt, and Smink as befuddled foster father Hait, are solid through and through, and Kerbosch's direction is even-handed and respectful; he makes no judgments upon the story told, nor does he treat childhood innocence with anything other than reverence. Indeed, there are many wondrous moments here in which such youthful innocence is celebrated. In the end, the movie acknowledges that the experience was a painful one, but it eschews judgment in favor of fairness, simply presenting the story without moralizing about it. And perhaps that is one of the director's "failures": it's hard not to want to know Jeroen's opinion about what took place during his youth, whether or not he was glad that it happened, or whether he feels he was taken advantage of (though it's hard not to see the look of wistful melancholy that crosses Krabbe's face when he recalls Walt).

It's difficult to review this movie, as I feel that I almost must defend that fact that I find it to be a lovely film, but in the end, despite my feelings toward pedophilia and those who commit the act, it's impossible to ignore the power and eloquence of such an evocative, thought-provoking movie. It is simply a beautiful testament to not only the beauty of first love, but to filmmaking as well. That the director and his cast were able to create such an authentic and resonant piece of work out of such controversial subject matter is a feat in and of itself, and I would recommend this film to anyone who appreciates simple storytelling and the value of a good movie. And, after all, aren't movies supposed to make us think and feel, and encourage us to question those ideals we hold as gospel? In this regard alone, For a Lost Soldier is more than successful. Like the war that serves as the backdrop for its frank depiction of youthful indiscretion, it's downright revolutionary.

Grade: A-

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age