Movie Review: Black Book

Most Americans when they hear the name of director Paul Verhoeven think of such over-the-top films as: Basic Instinct, Showgirls, Total Recall, Robocop and Starship Troopers. Before going to Hollywood he apparently made some of the best Dutch films of all time. Black Book is his first Dutch film in 20 years. It's not crazy over-the-top but there's still plenty of sex and violence and suspense making Black Book more thriller than drama. Fun might be the wrong word, but it's a very good solid movie.

Rachel Stein is a Dutch Jew hiding from the Nazis on a farm. When the farm house is bombed she has to find another hiding spot and soon is caught up in the Dutch resistance. She creates a new identity of Ellis de Vries a German singer and is sleeping with the head of the Gestapo to spy on them. i won't give more away but there is a lot of plot to follow. None of the characters are stupid and few are entirely good or entirely evil. Lots of shades of grey here in what you have to do to survive.

It's a Verhoeven film so it's not without controversy. This film has at least one sympathetic Nazi and covers the brutal retribution of the Dutch to the Nazi sympathizers. As harsh as it is, apparently Verhoeven toned that down from real life. This is a film that has several endings but they all add something. It has a framing device of starting with a scene in Israel in 1956 with Rachel and tells the story in flashback. Normally I dislike such things but it allows a final scene that's a pretty powerful statement.

I enjoyed Black Book a lot. There's an involved plot that keeps adding twists and turns and the production values are all strong. But what makes this film is Carice van Houten's great lead performance as Rachel/Ellis. She's strong, capable, resourceful, sympathetic, plays a full range of emotions and is utterly stunning.

I will give the advice to pay attention to try to learn all the characters names. Towards the end of the film a lot of off-screen characters are referred to by name and you'll want to be able to keep up. So yes, I'm implying you should see this.