Review of For a Lost Soldier (1992) by Roxanne R — 18 Mar 2011

I must point out that you need to have an open mind if you decide to watch this movie and let me stress its NOT for the masses! It deals with a highly controversial subject matter which is the romantic relationship between a 12 year old boy and a 20 something male soldier- yes even I had some reservations about that and no I am not a card carrying member of NAMBLA! So you can place your concerns aside.. I give credit to the director (Roeland Kerbosch) for depicting the whole story in a very tasteful manner. The film commences in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands late in WWII. Food shortages are producing slow starvation in Amsterdam, so 12-year-old Jeroen, along with a score of other children are being evacuated to rural Friesland. There the children will be sheltered by country folk who can feed them properly and keep them safe until the war ends. Jeroen is welcomed into a fisherman's family. One morning the German soldier's blow-up the town bridge and allied soldiers appear to repair it.

One of the Allied soldiers, Walt, singles Jeroen out from the crowd of welcoming townspeople and the friendship/bond starts from there. After each encounter, Jeroen craves for more and enjoys the company of his soldier friend. When the Netherlands is liberated Walt and his unit vanish overnight, abandoning Jeroen amongst people he no longer relates to. Frantically the boy searches for his lost soldier. During the 35 years between then and the time Jeroen writes his book on which this film is true to, Jeroen never found Walt and was unable to fill the huge emptiness left behind by his lost soldier. Recommended!