The San Francisco Examiner du lieu suivant : San Francisco, California • 241

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Unless you know thst San frxncistoa most unique hotel now $129 Includes Room Free Parking a spacious room far yourself and free lodgi ng for your October 1-31 From 7 pm Nightly Closed Mondays At the Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Gate 8 $12.50 Adults $9.50 Children, Military, Over 60 Group rates available, call 510417-8700 Purchase tickets at gate or charge by phone: 510762-BASS 4jgr Coo's US1 The Jukebox Also ilia WWPW ST Wf Si mm IB) a Allium IK' if Sb :5 'SI, IP BY PETER STACK CHRONICLE STAFF WRITFII S3 HEN Amsterdam-based writer-director Roeland Kerbosch first read the best-selling autobiographical novel "For a Lost Soldier" by fellow Dutch writer Rudi van Dantzig, he found it an experience that "gave me a haunting chill." "The book took me immediately back to my own childhood," Kerbosch, 52, said on a recent visit to San Francisco, where the movie version of the book opens Wednesday at the Lumiere Theater. "I was one of the kids who lived through the 'Hunger Winter 1944. Residents of Amsterdam, scared by the madness of war so near them, sent their children to the far north countryside of Friesland for safety. Kerbosch, 3 years old at the time, remembers it vividly: "When I came back, my father in Amsterdam was so happy he cried and cried. But I realized later that he was crying also because he knew that I had changed.

My language had become Friesian, and he hardly understood anything I said." The novel on which "For a Lost Soldier" is based recounts a far more potent change that of a 12-year-old boy who meets a young Canadian soldier who is part of the Allied liberation forces. Both lonely, both displaced, they have a brief homosexual affair. "For me, it was only language that changed, but for the boy in the story, it was a profound first love, a rite of passage that he never forgot," Kerbosch said. "For a Lost Soldier" was greeted with great enthusiasm when it was released as a film in Amsterdam. Part of its popularity came from the fact that van Dantzig's novel was a best-seller in Holland, Kerbosch said.

Van Dantzig, a noted choreographer, is also former artistic director of the Dutch National Ballet. Kerbosch has made important political documentaries on South Africa, the Middle East and about the drug lords of Burma. He also has authored five successful novels. He had less confidence about his film when "Lost Soldier" opened in New York. But at its first commercial run, "For a Lost Soldier" became a runaway hit and got generally good reviews.

"For a Lost Soldier" opens Wednesday at the lumiere Theater. car. So join us this weekend for everything that makes Jeroen Krabb and Maarten Smith Director Roeland Kerbosch: 'A love story is a love story' There was little stir about its subject matter, which Kerbosch had anticipated might be controversial. "In Holland, audiences just took it as a love story," the director said. "And that's also what happened in New York, because it's a love story, a beautiful and romantic one at that," said Kerbosch, who is straight and married to one of Holland's leading ballet stars, Valeria Valentine, prima ballerina of the Dutch National Ballet.

The film stars Jereon Krabbe as a middle-aged ballet choreogra- a a in 'For a Lost Soldier' pher remembering his youth when he was sent to the country to live with a family of fisher folk, Maarten Smit, a new talent in Holland, plays the boy. The film was shot in rural Friesland, where hundreds of children were sent for protection, 73 BE honest, I expec- 1 ted the movie would be very controversial," Kerbosch said. "But it hasnt been, and still it has done very well in New York and later in Los Angeles." The movie was given an enthusiastic response at this year's San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Stung by a Village Voice review in New York that described the movie as a "Disney film for pedophiles" and by the Spanish language daily L'Opinion's refusal to review it in Los Angeles, Kerbosch said: "I thought the pickets would be lining up to condemn me and the movie. I can't tell you what a relief it is that it didn't happen, and what a joy it is that audiences have come to see the film for what it is, a simple and moving coming-of-age story.

"That it involves a soldier and boy seems only incidental to most people it could easily have been the same story if it involved soldier and a girl. And obviously people see that in the film. A love story is a love story." this city special And enjoy the change. SAN FRANCISCO I lad ANamott. JM S5 Foudf) StrcH, San rranciK CjMmtl 4TJ (S) SM4MI Applies to ommght Oaf onfretns.

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