What a waste of my time!!!

Beautiful, moving film.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

These are the three important themes of this fantastic movie. Set in occupied Holland it begins with the bonding of two boys aged 12 or 13. The stars of the movie are Tuur and his friend Lambert. Their boys' retreat is a secret cave. As happens in early adolescence, Tuur starts to better see and more deeply question the complex world around him. He sees his best friend's family collaborating with the Nazis and being bullied for this and then learns by following the furtive actions of his father and older brother, that they are assisting the Dutch Resistance. He witnesses families being arrested and deported to camps in Germany for harboring Jews.Into this increasingly messy world tainted by the war steps Maartje, a pretty but shy girl who says her parents are recuperating in the south of Holland. Initially Maartje takes a fancy to Lambert who wants her to join the activities thus far the preserve of just the boys. Tuur is resentful at first but then develops a crush on Maartje. Pretty soon he only wants to hang out with her and not Lambert and Lambert feels rejected and left out.Maartje gradually reveals more serious secrets to Tuur: first that her adopted family house an illegal pig hidden from the German occupiers but, more explosively, that she is actually a Jewish girl called Tamar and that her parents were taken away to what she was told was a labor camp. Tuur tells Tamar of his family's clandestine resistance activities. They swear each other to secrecy.As happens when puppy love suddenly competes with what was hitherto a boys only world, Lambert becomes jealous of the time Tuur and Maartje are spending together and catches them playing in a barn with the illegal pig. Thinking only of his being spurned by his long time friend for a girl, Lambert advises his father who in turn tells the Germans who arrest the family, find a hidden box of photos with the evidence of Maartje's true identity which in turn leads to her arrest for deportation.Tuur cycles frantically to the town where Tamar is interned in time to see her being loaded onto a truck for deportation to a concentration camp. In one of the most poignant moments of the movie, Tuur breaks through German soldiers to throw a carved stone representation of an Olympic gold medal at Tamar, a gift he had been making for her as she is being hauled off to German incarceration sobbing with the realization of what her fate will be.Lambert realizes his single revelation has led to the imprisonment of his two best friends. Lambert persuades his German sympathizing father to release Tuur and Tuur arrives home just as his family's activities as resistance supporters are revealed and in a dramatic climax, the family escape to the cave only to be assisted by Lambert (who has joined the Dutch Hitler Youth to please his Nazi loving father) with flashlights and food to enable them to navigate a labyrinth of tunnels to escape to Belgium. There is a beautifully poignant moment of emotional embrace when the temporarily estranged friends unite in this dangerous act of assistance and departure as Lambert gives Tuur the box of Tamar's photos.This movie handles explosive issues of how people coped in occupied territories (collaborating versus secretly opposing), the issue of how Jews were treated and those who house them all through the eyes of children emerging into adolescence and the poignancy of first love against the horrors of betrayal and the omnipresent Germans and their campaign to root out Jews. The three child actors did a stunning job that really carries the movie; Maas Bronkhuyzen in particular as Tuur puts in a powerful performance. I recently had the privilege of meeting the director Dennis Bots. He said Maas (playing Tuur) and Joes (playing Lambert) were so good as actors that they did that incredibly moving scene in only one take after Dennis explained to them what he wanted. The tension in the movie builds gradually and climaxes with powerful even tear jerking scenes!

This is the kind of movie you wish would be made more often today. Instead of relying on CGI and comic book type characters to carry the film, this movie places all the importance on character development and a poignant story line to maintain your interest.And that it does very well.The two main protagonists Tuur and Lambert, played by Maas Bronkhuyzen and Joes Brauers are best friends at one of the worst times in human history. It takes place in the Netherlands during the Nazi occupation of World War II. The two school boys are inseparable and spend all of their spare time together including fighting off school bullies who pick on Lambert because of his family's collaboration with their German overlords.This relationship continues until a new girl arrives at school, Maartje, played by Pippa Allen. Lambert befriends her almost immediately, but Tuur is reluctant to allow her to become a part of their relationship, which he sees as singularly a duo and definitely not a trio.Gradually, Maartje wins Tuur over and before long, Tuur finds he'd rather spend his spare time with Maartje than with his long time friend. It gets to the point where he lies to Lambert about getting together him after church in order to see Maartje. Maartje reveals a secret about her true identity to Tuur that she pleads with him not to tell anyone, including Lambert. This complication leads to betrayed trust and lands Maartje in trouble with the Nazi sympathizers, for which Lambert receives the blame, thus destroying a once best friend relationship and a new budding young romantic one.The film concludes with all the poignancy one should expect from a well written, well developed story line, that has war as its central theme coming between young men and women who at any other time would enjoy long lasting and special friendships.There is no violence, no nudity and no profanity. In short, it is a wonderful film with timeless themes for all ages and well worth the watch.

Times are hard in the German-occupied Netherlands, not least for young Tuur. He's worried that his parents seem to be working for the resistance movement and he can't get his head around the ambivalence of his peers to the occupying force. At the same time, he has to stick up for his best friend Lambert, whose family are Nazi sympathisers.To crown it all, when he falls in love with the new girl in town, Maartje, she reveals a dangerous secret to him...This isn't the most sophisticated of World War II movies, though it has an entertaining and engaging plot. What makes the film notable is the portrayal of the two principal boys by Maas Bronkhuyzen and Joes Brauers. The interplay between the cheeky and wonderfully expressive Tuur and the stoical but tender-hearted Lambert creates magic that saves this film from mediocrity.The central themes of loyalty and courage will appeal particularly to younger viewers making this a good bet for family viewing.

Very well done film. The child actors are impressive. I took my two teen daughters to a screening and they agreed it is one of the best movies they've seen. Most WWII movies center on soldiers or governments or strategy. This one shows the simplest situations of daily life for children and how huge consequences come of adult error, cowardice, and prejudice. Rather than simply demonize all supporters of Hitler's regime, the film does show with subtly how some were acting out of ignorance, others appeasement, yet others desperation--but it never excuses or dismisses the depth of consequence and responsibility, even for children.Touching, evocative, affecting but not pretentious. This is what art should be like today. Secrets of War is scheduled for a US release in December 2015. Watch for it.