Oorlogsgeheimen
Do you take your kids to “serious” movies or just gloss over reality?
We’ve been on something of a James Bond spree lately as my brother in law has the full collection. Today as we we stopped for a toll payment my son suggested we just ram through the white and red striped bar just like Bond, James Bond. It was time for a reality check movie.
Maybe the underground resistance through the eyes of a 12-year old is a little far on the other spectrum of reality, but hey, a good jolt in either direction is probably good to shake things up. Blowing up ships in the water or watching your newly-found love get trucked off with Nazis, ash, all in a day’s work, uh, movie.
Do they see each other again?
No murders, explosions, or action.
My 10-year old said, “No one got killed.” after the film. Yeah, kinda, uh, not really. Actually, more people got killed with this story than with Godzilla, even when he tramples through San Francisco. But it wasn’t front and center. People weren’t being shot, blown up, or tortured. At least not on the screen. This was about old friendships and new ones, people who were not that different from you, but were seen as different by others. They mostly just wanted to play with marbles and explore caves–like most kids want to do. They just happened to be surrounded by Germans and it was the 1940s.
The main actor and later the lead female actor roles were a pleasure to watch. Believable, lovable, and engaging, they were Dutch superstars–or might be someday. What started out as laughing and a game to Tuur (the lead) became serious as the plot moved along and he realized how serious things were. Were his friends truly his friends? Who was this girl that he was infatuated with? Where did his loyalties truly lie? Lots on the shoulders of a 12-year old.
My boys wanted to see Malificent. We can see that in the states. I’m sure it’s a happy ending. With Oorloggeheimen (sorry, that means War Secrets in Dutch), we don’t know if he’ll ever see Maartje again or even his Dutch buddy (who was forced by his family to lean towards the German side of things). It was a lot for my 8-year old to take in, but the little age indicator on the movie said 6, although I’ve doubted the accuracy of those numbers on previous Dutch films.
If you’re up for a movie about World War II from the perspective of young kids, this is one you won’t regret.
