Set in the Netherlands near the end of WWII, the film is a flashback recalling an adolescent gay relationship between 12 year-old boy Jeroen Krabbé (Jeroen Bowman) and a Canadian soldier, Andrew Kelley (Walt Cook). Jeroen reminisces about the time in 1944 when he (Maarten Smit) and other children were sent to the countryside by their parents to escape the war. Amsterdam suffers from food shortages, with more food available in the country. He stays with an eel fisherman's family, but despite the abundance of food, he is plagued by homesickness. Things change when the village is liberated by Canadian troops. Jeroen meets Andrew Kelley, a Canadian soldier in his early twenties, who befriends him. Jeroen revels in the attention the soldier showers on him, and eventually their relationship becomes sexual. His foster parents are aware of the closeness between Jeroen and the soldier, but it is unclear in the film whether they are aware of the sexual nature of the relationship. After a few more days, Walt's troop are ordered to move and Walt leaves without saying goodbye to Jeroen. The boy is heartbroken, having only a photo to remind him of the soldier. After the war is over, he returns to his family back in Amsterdam, where he decides to go to America later in his life. The film ends by returning to the present with Jeroen attempting to incorporate his experiences in his latest ballet work.
It's another coming of age movie handled with tact, style, and feeling. Foster father Hait (Freark Smink) loves the boy selflessly, whereas Andrew's love is selfish, exploitive and his aim is seduction. Joop Stokkermans composed the incidental music. Don Bloch and Roeland Kerbosch wrote the screenplay derived from Rudi van Dantzig's novel. Roeland Kerbosch directed. In Dutch with some English, and with English subtitles. The English title is, "For a Lost Soldier".
It's another coming of age movie handled with tact, style, and feeling. Foster father Hait (Freark Smink) loves the boy selflessly, whereas Andrew's love is selfish, exploitive and his aim is seduction. Joop Stokkermans composed the incidental music. Don Bloch and Roeland Kerbosch wrote the screenplay derived from Rudi van Dantzig's novel. Roeland Kerbosch directed. In Dutch with some English, and with English subtitles. The English title is, "For a Lost Soldier".
