Voor een verloren soldaat

Loosely based on the autobiography of Rudi van Danzi, FOR A LOST SOLIDER tells the story of a Dutch boy's emotional and sexual relationship with a young adult American solider during World War II. The film presents the relationship as a loving and often magical one--and asks the viewer to consider if such relationships are intrinsically abusive or if they might, in extraordinary instances, have validity and even integrity.

It should be very obvious that the subject and issues raised are likely to provoke a knee-jerk reaction in most people--but even so, FOR A LOST SOLDIER has remarkable delicacy. The film is not explotational in any way, it is beautifully acted and filmed, and the difficult material is handled by the director, writer, and cinematographer with considerable grace.

All of this said, however, the film is so careful to avoid the obvious pitfalls that in some respects it fails to make any significant statement. What ultimately emerges is a memory--the film is presented as an extended flashback--but exactly how that memory reverberates in present time is vaguely expressed at best. And while the film does not consider this particular relationship to be deliberately abusive, it begs but never answers the question of intrinsic abusive, leaving the viewer to do battle with that knotty issue entirely on their own.

Those who watch FOR A LOST SOLIDER thoughtfully and with an open mind will find it forces them to define their own ideas about what is and is not abusive. This may actually be point of the film, to motivate an examination of personal values--but if so it is a point made by a very, at times almost impossibly indirect implication. Recommended for sophisticated viewers, but even they are more likely to find it more problematic than substantial.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I don't know if a boy of 12 can be attracted sexually to an adult male as was depicted in this movie. For me it raises the question of at what age does a person who is going to grow up gay become interested in someone of the same sex. It is obvious that the young soldier takes advantage of the innocence of a youngster although it is suggested too that the feelings of the soldier are more than merely sexual. The dance scene implies that there was love. The end of the movie and the title implies that the boy remembers the soldier in later years and as a mature adult with affection and perhaps longing so one is tempted to conclude that relationship with the young soldier though brief was meaningful. I was reminded of the relationship of the boy and the old man in Cinema Paradiso which although certainly not of a sexual nature was also very important to both the boy and the man. For a Lost Soldier gave me much to think about and is likely to provoke much thought in the intelligent viewer.

With all the furor over "Lolita," one might think a film such as "For a Lost Soldier," the story of a barely pubescent Dutch boy who has a sexual affair with a Canadian soldier in the closing days of WWII, would raise a few eyebrows as well. Perhaps there is a different standard for the relationship between an "older" man (albeit, in this case, an older man barely out of his teens) and a child. But, for those inclined to explore this issue on film, "For a Lost Soldier" does an admirable job of making such a relationship seem acceptable, and perhaps even inevitable, in view of the hysteria that accompanied the Liberation of Europe by the Allied troops. The relationship between Walt and Jaroen seems particularly idyllic when contrasted with those of Walt's comrades-in-arms with the village girls, who graduate almost overnight from schoolgirls to strumpets. If a book version exists, I look forward to reading it.

Having lived and worked in the Netherlands and knowing its language, I have been interested in the Dutch cinema as well, particularly if Rutger Hauer or Jeroen Krabbé present. There have lots of films on the WWII been made, nicely versatile ones, as the period was one of the most painful and complex in the country's history. Thus, I was eager to learn how the war era was made compatible with such a sensitive topic like man-boy relationship.

But the latter was not much visible in Voor een verloren soldaat (perhaps in the autobiographical novel of the same title - I have not read that); it was even not clearly visible if there was some mutual erotics at all. What we saw was a 20+ years foreign soldier acting as a caring mentor, showing a boy far from home and family new angles of life; besides, I do not believe that showing affection towards a boy would have been normally accepted by both the religious Dutchmen and militant Canadians in those days...

Anyway, the mood in the film is pleasant, performances realistic, and viewers obtain a nice overview of Friesland under slackening Nazi occupation. But do not try to find any sensationalism, as mentioned, it is a good depiction of friendship - with some affection - during a war period when many things and deeds are perceived in another way.

The Film " For A Lost Soldier " has established itself as a classic. Based on the autobiography of Rudi van Danzi who writes of his early experiences in war torn Europe. He shares his boyhood and how he was separated from his family, sent to the dutch countryside for safety. A lonely, shy youth, he shares the freedom of his liberated country with Canadian soldiers. One of which realizes the boy's 'special' loneliness and befriends him. In the process, the two share a brief forbidden love, establishing the later adult memories which Danzi uses to revitalizes his depleted inspiration. Seen by some, as perverted, the film is nevertheless readily accepted by many others as a heartwarming and sympathetic view of youthful homosexuality. The author, director and actors earn fulsome praise. *****