Voor een verloren soldaat

Voor een verloren soldaat (For a Lost Soldier) is a 1992 Dutch movie after the autobiographical novel of the same title by ballet dancer and choreographer Rudi van Dantzig. It deals with the romance between a 12-year-old boy (Dantzig) and a Canadian soldier during the final spell of World War II.

An adult Jeroen (Jeroen Krabbé) reminisces about the time in 1945 when he (Maarten Smit) and other children were sent to the countryside by his parents because more food was available there. He stays with an eel fisher's family, but despite the abundance of food is plagued with homesickness.

Things change when the village is liberated by Canadian troops. Jeroen meets Walt (Andrew Kelley), a Canadian soldier in his early twenties, who befriends him, but clearly also muses about Jeroen's sexuality.

The two spend a lot of time together, Jeroen getting taught how to drive a Jeep among other things. Eventually, their relationship turns sexual, to the delight of Jeroen, who had previously made an unsuccessful attempt to start an affair with one of the other boys in the family.

The foster parents notice the nature of the relationship between Jeroen and the soldier but tolerate it, perhaps realizing that both homosexual and heterosexual wartime romances with military personnel do not last.

After a few more days, Walt's troop gets order to move and Walt leaves without saying goodbye to Jeroen. Jeroen is heartbroken, having only a photo to remind him of his beloved, but at least he now has the firm intention to go to America later in his life.