Oorlogsgeheimen (2014) Online

I am blown away. I won't give away the plot or outcome.

For folks familiar with that time, they will understand.

While fiction i can just imagine this is a reflection of the truth that happened to millions caught up in the maelstrom of those days inflicted on the world by Hitler and his willing evil henchmen.

I am glad i found this film.

So very well done.

Innocence meets reality of children coming of age.

Not your typical war film, this takes the story of the impact of the war to a very personal level.

Highly recommended video!

Times are hard in the German-occupied Netherlands, not least for young Tuur. He's worried that his parents seem to be working for the resistance movement and he can't get his head around the ambivalence of his peers to the occupying force. At the same time, he has to stick up for his best friend Lambert, whose family are Nazi sympathisers.

To crown it all, when he falls in love with the new girl in town, Maartje, she reveals a dangerous secret to him...

This isn't the most sophisticated of World War II movies, though it has an entertaining and engaging plot. What makes the film notable is the portrayal of the two principal boys by Maas Bronkhuyzen and Joes Brauers. The interplay between the cheeky and wonderfully expressive Tuur and the stoical but tender-hearted Lambert creates magic that saves this film from mediocrity.

The central themes of loyalty and courage will appeal particularly to younger viewers making this a good bet for family viewing.

Very well done film. The child actors are impressive. I took my two teen daughters to a screening and they agreed it is one of the best movies they've seen. Most WWII movies center on soldiers or governments or strategy. This one shows the simplest situations of daily life for children and how huge consequences come of adult error, cowardice, and prejudice. Rather than simply demonize all supporters of Hitler's regime, the film does show with subtly how some were acting out of ignorance, others appeasement, yet others desperation--but it never excuses or dismisses the depth of consequence and responsibility, even for children.

Touching, evocative, affecting but not pretentious. This is what art should be like today. Secrets of War is scheduled for a US release in December 2015. Watch for it.

This is the kind of movie you wish would be made more often today. Instead of relying on CGI and comic book type characters to carry the film, this movie places all the importance on character development and a poignant story line to maintain your interest.

And that it does very well.

The two main protagonists Tuur and Lambert, played by Maas Bronkhuyzen and Joes Brauers are best friends at one of the worst times in human history. It takes place in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation of World War II. The two school boys are inseparable and spend all of their spare time together including fighting off school bullies who pick on Lambert because of his family's collaboration with their German overlords.

This relationship continues until a new girl arrives at school, Maartje, played by Pippa Allen. Lambert befriends her almost immediately, but Tuur is reluctant to allow her to become a part of their relationship, which he sees as singularly a duo and definitely not a trio.

Gradually, Maartje wins Tuur over and before long, Tuur finds he'd rather spend his spare time with Maartje than with his long time friend. It gets to the point where he lies to Lambert about getting together him after church in order to see Maartje. Maartje reveals a secret about her true identity to Tuur that she pleads with him not to tell anyone, including Lambert. This complication leads to betrayed trust and lands Maartje in trouble with the Nazi sympathizers, for which Lambert receives the blame, thus destroying a once best friend relationship and a new budding young romantic one.

The film concludes with all the poignancy one should expect from a well written, well developed story line, that has war as its central theme coming between young men and women who at any other time would enjoy long lasting and special friendships.

There is no violence, no nudity and no profanity. In short, it is a wonderful film with timeless themes for all ages and well worth the watch.

Very sensitive and touching story of early adolescence and the awakenings in three young teens to the good and the bad in the world around them. We see two boys who are friends in everything separated by the different attitudes of their families toward the German occupation. The boys' relationship is complicated by the arrival in their village of a new face, a girl from Amsterdam who quickly becomes a pal.

The film shows the grim, complex consequences of the occupation on the Dutch people. Some passively accepting what they feel they must, some actively cooperating with the new authorities and some trying to resist.

We finally get a glimpse of the effects of the Nazi occupation on the Jews of Holland. Although the actual horrors of the Holocaust are not directly shown, the story and acting make clear the final result.

The cinematography is beautiful. The acting and direction are first rate. I enthusiastically recommend this movie.

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.

This engaging and powerful Dutch film focuses on the effects, in particular on the children, of the Nazi Occupation of the Netherlands, during WW2. Set in a small rural village there, it illustrates how the bonds and relationships between family, friends, and neighbors were torn asunder, by the increasingly malevolent tactics of the German occupiers. However, it also depicts the bravery of those who chose to defy the Nazis by either joining or helping the Dutch Resistance.

As, mentioned a lot of the focus is on how the war was seen through the eyes of three children in the village, Tuur (Maas Bronkhuyzen), Lambert (Joes Brauers) and Maartje (Pippa Allen). All three performances were excellent and their portrayals were done in a most natural way.

Tuur and Lambert had been long term best friends but when Maartje comes to their town to live with her aunt and uncle it will cause friction and jealousy among the two boys. When Tuur and Maartje reveal certain secrets to each other it will set off a chain reaction of events that will have dramatic and tragic consequences.

Overall, I found this film, directed by Dennis Bots with a screenplay from Karin van Horst Pellekaan, based on the book by Jacques Vriens, quite engrossing and intriguing, and would certainly recommend it to anyone who likes these types of movies.

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!

I have no other choice but to give it a 10. It is a beautiful movie. Yes, the theme is "war" but the subject isn't. I saw it as a movie purely about friendship and nothing else. Yes, both boys lost their innocence due to the cruelty of war. Yes, their friendship got to be tested quite a few times throughout the movie but at the end it was their friendship that saved both boys.

Both boy actors, Maas Bronhuyzen and Joes Brauens were terrific. They conveyed their feelings and emotions in a way a seasoned actor would do. Dialogs were short and to the point without wasting viewers time with lengthy conversations trying to convince viewers about main characters feelings, emotions and thoughts. In three specific scenes the facial expressions, the emotion and the acting in general felt very real and convincing. The ending scene sealed the movie and the friendship and with no doubt it became obvious that both friends have their hearts set in the right place.

If you haven't seen it yet, make an effort then.

This review contains info which some may consider spoilers.

This movie could have been great, but the Tuur character was often annoyingly stupid & hot-headed, almost as if he has emotional problems. The complications from the seem unnecessarily, except that's the only way the plot moves forward. The coming of age portion of the story is almost completely overshadowed by this. At times I found it difficult to care about the character. The character of Lambet on the other hand shows more depth and development. It's much easier to watch as he learns to navigate Holland during the early part of Nazi occupation. He doesn't go through the stupid stage to suddenly being more mature and it is much easier to become invested in his story I'm glad I didn't pay to see it, but glad I watched it on Netflix.

I ran across this movie while going through Amazon Prime movies. I have never been a real fan of Dutch movies, but this is absolutely the most incredible movie I have ever seen -- my new no. 1 favorite. It had me sobbing at the end. So sensitively done. Shows how friendship -- enduring friendship -- can continue whether separated by place or even death. I'll never forget this one.

I stumbled upon this film as I was searching under the war genre, and although it is the main theme, this is a very moving story centered around the strong relationship of two little boys and how their friendship is put to the test as the war begins to affect both them and their families.

I can't stress enough how much I enjoyed the performances of those two kids.

So well acted for boys so young. I hope they both go on to further their careers in the movie industry.

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.

It is not easy to combine war environment and children's daily life and activities, particularly under any occupation, air raid or other events incompatible with "normal" childhood. On the other hand, these are the times when friendship, common interests, rivalry matter most, and all this - plus other important factors - have been here capably depicted. Child actors provide particularly good performances, but due to their character's age, one can not blame them for not understanding "global realities", e.g. holocaust; moreover, Nazi occupation in Holland was not so harsh as in Eastern Slavic areas, for example. Providing different undertones or scenes would have meant moving beyond children's film concept, towards aware/knowledgeable deeds, but the main characters were about 10 years old!

All in all, a good combination of World War II history and life in an occupied township. Not all films should deal with "correct" attitudes towards Jews...