60
Straightforward and solid but only mildly involving.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
An efficient, absorbing example of the form framed in a boy's coming-of-age story set in a snowbound rural Holland in 1945.
75
May serve as a useful way to introduce teens to what World War II in Europe was like.
75
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
Nothing in this film approaches the boy's-eye view of war that, say, John Boorman achieved in "Hope and Glory," but it's an affecting, if somewhat flavorless, journey.
75
We know about Anne Frank's diary and Paul Verhoeven's masterpiece "Black Book," but director Martin Koolhoven has shed new light on what happened in Holland with a powerful and touching film.
60
Boxoffice Magazine by Richard Mowe
Koolhoven manages the difficult balance of entertaining as well as offering a high emotional impact, with considerable agility. Pino Donaggio's soaring and powerful score intensifies all of the drama.
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen
View the Second World War through a child's eyes and the result isn't hard to predict: a loss-of-innocence tale. Winter in Wartime is the boilerplate version, with the already dramatic facts of the era ramped up to melodramatic levels. Little wonder it rings so false.
60
A fresh twist on a familiar fog-of-war story.
70
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
Winter in Wartime turns into a moderately gripping thriller with predictable plot twists and reversals.