Customer Reviews

Black Book ( Zwartboek ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Netherlands ]

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As many here have said, this is a beautifully shot, gripping, unforgettable movie, a great addition to the honorable genre of WWII flicks. In fact, the father of one of my colleagues, Dutch himself and in his 70s, said this was the best film he has ever seen. So I don't understand why, if a man in his 70s who is from the WWII generation himself did not find this film "prurient," so many reviewers have insisted that it is. The scene that most of the prudes seem to find gratuitous is (spoiler alert) the scene in which the Jewish heroine prepares herself to pass as a blonde bombshell so she can seduce the German officer. Clearly, she is going to have to dye or shave hair other than the hair on her head in order to pass as a natural blond. The movie shows her doing this. Why is it not gratuitous? Because the scene sets up the love triangle that will result in the conflict in the last third of the movie. It is absolutely essential to the advancement of the plot, and in my opinion, any reviewer who can't see that is not only a fussy old woman, but also not much of a reviewer. So if you have not seen this movie because you've read a review that trashes it on the grounds of prurience, please reconsider. And consider this: the most recent Ang Lee movie is so sexually frank that it got an NC-17 rating, yet there hasn't been a single review which has trashed it on the basis of its gratuitous sex. That says to me that some major reviewers are only interested in criticizing Paul Verhoeven rather than commenting honestly on his film. Another reason to see this movie is Carice Van Houten. She not only convincingly plays a 40's bombshell, she has that same 40s movie-star quality that you can't take your eyes off of. Truly, you could watch this film 100 times and never get tired of her. She is irresistible.

One of my special interests is WW II history, especially the Nazi era, and I have watched many fact-based movies dealing with the theme. Black Book is a first-rate thriller that depicts the trials and tribulations of a young Jewish woman in Nazi-occupied Holland. Rachel Stein the lead character is played consummately by the beguiling Carice Van Houten whose facial expressions do a lot more to convey fear, vulnerability, hatred and determination than mere dialogue alone. To ensure her continued survival and escape from certain death that awaits the Jewish populace, Rachel, having suffered the loss of her brother and parents, takes on the guise of an Aryan, Ellis de Vries, and is roped by the Resistance to seduce Ludwig Muntze [Sebastian Koch] a Gestapo officer and steal Nazi secrets.

The actors in this movie are well-cast - even the Gestapo officer, whose very title should inspire revulsion is portrayed with a certain sensitivity, and he shows a semblance of humanity, a rare trait for an officer of the Reich. Even knowing Rachel's true Jewish identity, he falls hopelessly in love with her, and this is portrayed with a level of credibility given the contradictions inherent in such a pairing.

The action is fast-paced, there is much violence, and yes, even explicit sex, but through it all, nothing detracts from the plot, only serves to enhance the story, and makes this a gripping, must-see WW II thriller.

Director Paul Verhoeven stunned the film world with his World War II masterpiece "Soldier of Orange"...and in a sense, this film is a second
installment of his story of the Dutch Resistance. In the earlier film it was easier to distinguish the evil from the good...here characters are edgier and perhaps darker.

The story begins when a young, pretty Jewish woman tries to flee to Belgium from Nazi occupied Holland but her family is betrayed, massacred and robbed along with other Jewish families. After a nail-biting escape,
Rachel (Carice Van Houten), joins the Resistance and agrees to infiltrate the Gestapo headquarters. Surprisingly, she becomes attached to one of the officers, and the tale begins a spin into betrayal and counterbetrayal...so that enemies and friends are very hard to distinguish.

There is a lot of old-fashioned World War II suspense and action that
rolls the story along. But ultimately, this is a film about how hard it is to identify villains and heroes, when everyone is wearing a mask...including Rachel,of course - who is hiding her Jewish identity.

Overall, the film sizzles more than Soldier of Orange, but the original World War II film is still the better steak. Recommended for the high octane action, interesting plot twists, and solid historical detail.

I think the best reason to view this movie is to watch Carice van Houten as she plays the part of Rachel Stein, a Dutch Jew trying to stay alive during the Nazi occupation of Holland in 1944. Rachel is forced to assume a different identity as Ellis de Vries ( recruited by the Dutch Resistance following the betrayal and deaths of her parents and brother), even going so far as to dye her dark hair blonde to hide her Jewishness from SS Officer Ludwig Muentze in order to gain his confidence and infiltrate the Nazi HQ. Carice is incredibly convincing as the sexy ex-cabaret singer entertaining the smitten Captain Muentze, with whom she becomes infatuated, and his fellow SS officers with her 40s Bombshell looks and sweet voice.

The movie was a well-written, exciting, and suspenseful foreign language film (in Dutch, German, and English) from beginning to end. I highly recommend BLACK BOOK to anyone who enjoys good film making.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:


Mata Hari and Greta Garbo move over; Rachel Stein a.k.a. Ellis de Vries is the new girl in town, and she is positively fearless!

Paul Verhoeven, whose American film making career gave us such films as BASIC INSTINCT and ROBO COP, has returned to his native Netherlands to co-write and direct his "piece de resistance" (literally!) in his exhilarating and relentlessly thrilling BLACK BOOK.In BLACK BOOK Verhoeven has created a Resistance fighter/spy/seductive vixen heroine for the ages in Rachel Stein.She is a one-of-a-kind, and Dutch actress Carice van Houten probably has made her most important career choice in portraying her.

Though The film begins on a Kibbutz in 1956 Israel where we meet a song singing teacher named Rachel Stein who chances upon an old friend from the War days,a former Nazi whore named Ronnie, Rachel's memory quickly takes us from the peaceful kibbutz back to the horrors of WW2 in 1944 Holland.This is where the story of Rachel Stein really begins.

As a Jewish woman in Holland, Rachel Stein has been forced into hiding with a Dutch family in order to fly under the radar of the terror of the Nazi Occupation and the compliant Dutch Police. When the family's farm is bombed ,Rachel is forced by circumstance to begin a long line of improvisations to simply stay alive.She is gorgeous,incredibly resourceful and absolutely and unapologetically opportunistic as she,instead of waiting out the War in seclusion, boldly goes forth right under the noses of the Nazis,changing her persona to Ellis de Vries,a platinum-blonde former Berlin cabaret star ,relying on her incredible female powers,beauty (and she is!) genius and courage and takes the Nazi Terror on.Ellis finds her niche with the Dutch resistance which asks her to land smack into the arms of a head Gestapo officer,Ludwig Muntze,(Sebastian Koch).She becomes the Resistance's chief spy as she plays whore to a Muntze,who falls heartily and hard for the magnificent and charming Ellis.What was simply a spy job,though,now changes drastically as Ellis and Ludwig really do fall in love.This is where the final and most difficult task lies for Ellis (and that is all this reviewer is giving away!)

Carice van Houten is an absolute rare find and no doubt the job that she so admirably does in infusing Rachel/Ellis with such depth,complexity and grit will land her all kinds of accolades and awards in the year to come.Ms van Houten takes the courageous yet fleeing Jewess Rachel and transfigures her into the ever resourceful,luminesque-Garbolike Ellis taking her into the world of roller coaster nightmares that leaves the viewer positively out of breath (and I was!)

Sebastian Koch,fresh from his sucess in the 2006 Foreign Oscar winner THE LIVES OF OTHERS is even MORE convincing as Gestapo officer Muntze in BLACK BOOK.This is an actor of such depth that coupled with van Houten and a flawless script and deft direction, BLACK BOOK is going to be hard to top for the 2007 Oscar.With such a glut of overused and underachieved American "stars",van Houten and Koch are actors' actors and hopefully will keep making smart decisions to act only the finest material under the best direction.Watching these actors makes one wonder why Americans fawn over some of the "fluff" stars we do?

What is neat about BLACK BOOK is that Verhoeven never gives the audience one minute of rest.He, though, never allows BLACK BOOK to become just another action-packed spy thriller; instead he gives us an incredibly deep and detailed story,set among the darkest days in war torn Europe that is character-rich,plot-exploding with great visual sense and style.BLACK BOOK is Verhoeven at his most mature.His last Dutch film,the 1983 thriller THE FOURTH MAN,though alright,followed by his American films,puts BLACK BOOK at the top of his distinguished directorial list.

Anne Dudley,who heretofore was known to this reviewer for her classical-style music, HYMNS ANCIENT AND MODERN, has composed a compelling and riveting soundtrack that never overtakes any of the story,but cleverly moves the action along-the chief goal of a score writer.

It is hard to believe that this film was 2 and 1/2 hours long! It flew by.BLACK BOOK is rated R and contains nudity,violence and coarse profanity.

Great companion films on WW2 Netherlands would be THE HIDING PLACE and A DAY IN OCTOBER .It seems to me that THE NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE ,which is the true story of Edith Hahn's transfiguration from hiding Jewess into a Officer's wife may well have been the "true events" that inspired the screenplay for BLACK BOOK.The similarities are uncanny making BLACK BOOK all the better for it.DO NOT MISS THIS FILM!
Sebastian Koch followed up this film with THE LIVES OF OTHERS-another triumph!

Carice van Houten give her breakout role (at least in this country, many of her Dutch films aren't available here) in 'Black Book'. Inspired by true events, the film mixes tense drama, action, and the flirtatious acting of van Houten to give an enjoyable two-hour plus of entertainment.

Much of the attention regarding Black Book has centered on the sexy performance of van Houten, and she is the center of the film. She in turn can be perky, cute, serious, and pensive, all while looking like a million bucks.

The film explores the complex setting of the German occupation of the country in World War II. Not all of the Resistance was as noble and mythical as popular memory would have it, and not all of the Germans were vile, disgusting pigs. The plot has more than a few twists and turns, leading to a payoff in the end.

As an aside, one nice thing about the film is the casualness it treats adult men and women in love and lust. Adult subjects handled in adult ways is a refreshing idea.

There is quite a lot of violence and violent images in the film, but all central to the plot. The movie is subtitled but they are easy to read and are not obtrusive.

The director's commentary is illuminating and interesting to listen to Paul Verhoeven's dissection of the movie as it rolls in real time. Mr. Verhoeven was a young boy during the war and remembers some of the events depicted in the film.

Highly recommended.

Anyone who has seen Soldaat van Oranje (soldier of Orange) will want to see Zwartboek (Black Book) by Paul Verhoeven. The cast names will not be familiar, but all actors are quite competent. It is the story of a young Jewish female singer and entertainer who barely survives the massacre of a boat load of Jewish refugees by the SS when they attempt to escape to Belgium from Holland during 1944. She links up with the Dutch Resistance as a spy and insinuates herself into the good graces of a German officer who eventually shows himself to be a good guy reminiscent of the good German in The Pianist. The plot involves many plots and counterplots and moles and betrayals that do not need to be revealed here. Verhoeven is a gifted director and the movie is beautifully put together. There is quite a bit of good music in refreshing contrast to most American movies. The cinematography is excellent. The language is Dutch with English subtitles except for a few scenes in German or English. It is long, but you will have no trouble staying awake.

Paul VerHoven has reflected on the Dutch resistance during World War II. In Soldier of Orange which was a powerful movie glamorizing the Dutch resistance with a protagonist who was more of an adventurer than a patriot, we are provided with a Jewish heroine who is a plucky survivor who does whatever is necessary to stay alive while helping the Resistance. VerHoven shows that the Resistance had in its midst persons who were closer to the German point of view on Jews than we had been led to believe in Soldier of Orange. There was good and bad in the resistance including rampant anti-semitism. Other than the heroine beautifully played by Caric van Houten, the most emphatic person is the German commander of the SS, who has an affair with Van Houten, and it is their plan to leave Holland at the end of the war together. At the end, you do not believe that many of the Dutch were any better than the Germans. This is a movie that must be seen. After watching it, I watched Soldier of Orange (on my top list) and appreciated why this movie was made. VerHoven wanted to correct the image of the Dutch that he had created in Soldier of Orange. It is filled with action more than any other recent movie but has a powerful message to give to the viewer. Paul VerHoven had to return to Holland to make this thriller to cleanse his soul.

The Black Book" tells the story of a Dutch-Jewish girl, Rachel Stein, who works for the resistance in Nazi-occupied Holland during the final days of World War II.

The film starts and finishes on a Kibbutz in Israel in 1956. A tourist, Ronnie (Halina Reijn) wis visiting Israel with her Canadian husband who she met during the liberation of Holland, when she is delighted and surprised to recognise the heroine (Carice van Houten) who had been a friend during the war, teaching at the Kibbutz school.

After Ronnie and her husband have gone, van Houten's character begins to reminisce to the circumstances leading up to her first meeting with Ronnie, and the viewer follows her thoughts back to September 1944 when she was hiding from the Nazis under her real name of Rachel Stein.

Rachel was a former famous singer from a wealthy Jewish family, who went into hiding when the Germans over-ran Holland. A stray bomb wrecks Rachel's hiding place, but someone who claimss to be working for the Resistance gives her the opportunity to flee. However, the group Rachel is travelling with are betrayed. Surviving by chance, she meets up with a different group of the resistance and begins to work for them, dying her hair blonde and taking the false name Ellis de Vries. After several of her friends in the resistance are captured, Resistance cell leader Gerben Kuipers (Derek de Lint) asks Ellis what she would do to help them: he asks if she will seduce SS leader Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch). At his HQ she meets Ronnie, who is working there as a genuine collaborator - or is she ?

From quite early in the film, the viewer begins to suspect that one or more characters who appears to be in the resistance or trying to help the Jews are actually traitors working for the Germans. You also begin to wonder if the people in the Nazi HQ include more Allied agents who Kuipers' resistance cell don't know about. However, the twists and turns in the complex plot of the film keep you constantly wondering who is betraying whom.

Some of the nastiest scenes in the film come after the liberation, because the final revenge of one of the Nazis is to trick the resistance into thinking that Rachel/Ellis has betrayed them. The "Black Book" of the title contains the evidence which eventually shows who the real traitors were.

Most of the spoken words in the film are in Dutch or German, with subtitles, except for a few lines towards the end of the film where the mostly Canadian liberation forces finally arrive. I hardly noticed that I was picking up the meaning from the subtitles, nor rapid fire switch of the dialogue between English and Dutch with subtitles towards the end (though I did notice that one or two people who were supposed to be Canadians had distinctly British accents.)

I can't make up my mind whether it was a good idea to bookend the film with the scenes on the Kibbutz in 1956. This tells you right at the beginning that Rachel/Ellis and Ronnie will survive and removes an element of suspense, though I was still wondering "How on earth does she get out of this one" for most of the film.

There is also a shock ending to the final 1956 segment. This does not relate well to the main story of the book, and appears to have been added to remind the viewer, regardless of your view of the Arab-Israel disputes, that for those who were born Jewish, facing prejudice and conflict did not end with the defeat of the nazis.

There is an enormous amount of nudity in the film: both Carice van Houten and Halina Reijn have magnificent bodies and both display them quite a lot. However, the nudity is always in context, and that context is usually painful or humiliating - e.g. when Rachel has to pretend to enjoy showing her breasts to a nazi pig who organised the murder of people she loved - so the nudity appears to be mainly intended to make a point rather than to titillate.

There is also some excellent music, including four contemporary songs sung by Carice van Houten, as she also performed them as Rachel Stein in the film. Three of them are in German, one in English

There is very little humour in the film: there are a couple of light-hearted exchanges at the beginning before tragedy strikes, and later there are two variants on the ancient "Is that a gun in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?" joke. Generally it's a very serious and rather sad film.

Compared with the low standard of plausibility of war thrillers in general much of this film scored quite highly for credibility and realism, though there were inevitably a few things I found it hard to believe could happen. Most of the time it is not difficult to suspend disbelief in the story.

Some excellent acting, especially from Carise va Houton as the central figure. De Lint as the resistance leader, Kock as a very complex Nazi figure, and Dolf de Vries as a notary who appears to be helping Jews escape give particularly powerful performances. Waldemar Kobus plays the horrible Günther Franken, a Nazi captain who clearly takes a delight in murdering Jews and robbing them, and Thom Hoffman plays Hans Akkermans, a doctor working for the resistance.

Director and screenplay author Paul Verhoeven has said that

"In this movie, everything has a shade of grey. There are no people who are completely good and no people who are completely bad. It's like life."

I agree that this describes the vast majority of characters in the film, though there are one or two who do come over as pure evil, notably Gunther Franken, and SS general Käutner, played by Christian Berkel.

Unless you like watching very sad films, this is probably one to rent rather than buy: I cannot imagine that I will want to watch it all that often. Most of the apparently sympathetic characters get killed, some of the rest turn out to be traitors, and overall the story is quite depressing. However, it is powerful, sexy, sophisticated, well made, and memorable.

"Black Book" (co-written by the director with Gerard Soeteman) is native Hollander Paul Verhoeven's first Dutch language film in quite a long while. There is an entire generation of moviegoers who can quote lines from "Basic Instinct ", "Robocop " or "Starship Troopers" but have never heard of "Spetters ", "The 4th Man" or "Soldier of Orange".

"Black Book" is a "Mata Hari" style tale set in Holland in the waning days of the German occupation, as the Allies make their post-D-Day push across Europe. Carice van Houten gives a compelling performance as a former chanteuse named Ellis, a Dutch Jew who has spent the occupation in hiding with a sympathetic farm family. When her hosts are obliterated in a bombing raid, Ellis is left with the realization that she will now have to live by her wits if she is to survive ("The Sound of Music" meets "Showgirls"? Discuss.)

After a series of harrowing escapes and misadventures, Ellis finds herself in the Dutch Resistance. As part of a plan to spring some imprisoned Resistance fighters, she is asked to seduce the commander of the local SS detachment, Colonel Muntze (Sebastian Koch, in a nicely fleshed out performance). Things get a little complicated when Ellis begins to develop a genuine attraction to Muntze.

This is a genuinely exciting war adventure, with interesting plot twists along the way (along with a few of those patented over-the-top Verhoeven moments, usually involving fearless nudity and gore). It's refreshing to see Verhoeven escaping from Hollywood and getting back to his roots;while I generally enjoy his big budget popcorn fare, I have always felt his Dutch films were much more challenging and substantive (Verhoeven the Hired Hand vs. Verhoeven the Auteur, if you will).