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By Brian Lafferty
April 1, 2011 (San Diego) – Director Martin Koolhoven says in the press notes that 1960s Italian spaghetti westerns inspired Winter in Wartime’s look. I didn’t see so much of that, or at least that didn’t run through my head as I watched it. Instead, I mostly saw another kind of influence, also from Italian cinema.
Thematically speaking, Winter in Wartime reminded me of Italian Neorealism, a film movement that lasted from the late 1940s to the early 1950s. Notable directors of this period include Luchino Visconti (Ossessione, La Terra Trema), Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thieves, Umberto D.), and Robert Rossellini (Paisan, Rome, Open City).
Winter in Wartime is a loose remake of Rossellini’s Rome, Open City. Wartime is about a 14 year-old boy named Michiel (Martijn Lakemeier), whose country (The Netherlands) is currently occupied by the Nazis. He comes to the aid of a British soldier and Resistance fighter named Jack (Jamie Campbell Bower). The two form a bond as Michiel helps Jack escape.
The events in this picture are viewed from Michiel’s perspective. I felt like I was seeing the world like a fourteen year-old was seeing it. From the start, director Koolhoven uses this unique perspective to convey innocence and naïveté.
This storytelling device results in a viewing effect similar to that of watching Forrest Gump. In that movie, Forrest Gump finds himself at the center of every major historical event from the 1950s to the 1980s. Despite this, he never realizes the significance of these events. Everybody who’s taken a U.S. history class knows differently. At the same time, however, the world is seen and told from the perspective of a man with an IQ of only 75.
In both Winter and Wartime and Forrest Gump, these elements combine in a way that creates an engaging and fascinating cinematic experience. I know a lot about the occupation, Resistance, Nazism, and World War II. Yet Koolhoven tells it from the viewpoint of a boy who doesn’t have the whole picture. I found myself seeing the Resistance and Occupation from a new perspective.
This is evident in Michiel’s relationship with Jack and his father. Michiel sees his father consorting with the Nazis. He doesn’t understand what’s going on or why his father is talking with these people. Koolhoven utilizes medium and long shots to effect this lack of the larger picture. The camera distance also creates simultaneous emotional and physical distance between Michiel and his father.
This Gump Effect also makes the film less predictable. Well, except for one obvious twist at the end. Everything else is not as easily guessable. By portraying the world as Michiel sees it, it makes his helping Jack more treacherous. This is because he is innocent and too young to fully comprehend his role in the Resistance.
There is another effect the movie has. The film has an extremely “cold” visual palette. It is always snowy, icy, and overcast. Director Koolhoven, cinematographer Guido van Gennep, and production designer Floris Vos drain as much color from each frame as possible to the point where almost everything is white. This look is so intense that, combined with the theater’s air conditioning, I got more immersed in the film than any 3D movie.
Winter in Wartime is playing for one week only at the Landmark Ken Cinema.
A Sony Pictures Classics release. Directed by Martin Koolhoven. Written by Koolhoven, Mieke de Jong, and Paul Jan Nelissen, based on a novel by Jan Terlouw. Cinematography by Guido van Gennep. Original music by Pino Donaggio. With Martijn Lakemeier, Yorick van Wageningen, and Jamie Campbell Bower. In Dutch, German, and English, with English subtitles. Rated R.
Brian can be reached at Brian@eastcountymagazine.org. You can also follow him on Twitter: @BrianLaff.
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