Review of Black Book (2006) by Jennifer A — 28 Jan 2010

Highly enertaining WWII thriller.

Black Book (2007) - 7.8/10.

Director - Paul Verhoeven.

Cast - Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn, Waldemar Kobus, Derek de Lint, Christian Berkel, Dolf de Vries.

It's 1944 and Rachel Steinn (Carice van Houten) is a beautiful young Jewish woman hiding in German-occupied Holland. When the house she is hiding in is bombed by the Germans she must flea. She is breiefly re-united with her family as they have paid for safe passge to Belgium. Unfortunately this is a set-up as all of the Jews are slaughtered, except for Rachel who narrowly escapes. She joins a local resistance movement, dies her hair blonde and becomes a spy; infiltrating the Nazis by becoming the lover of a Nazi Commander.

WWII has long been a popular subject with filmmakers for good reason. It's one of the most signficant events in world history, offering a dizzying array of dramatic possibilities for filmmakers worldwide. Many brilliant films have been made for sure, most of which tend to be very serious and emotionally heavy. Paul Verhoeven's "Black Book" is a bit different than most because it comes across more as a stylized thriller than a heavy-handed WWII drama. In other words it's more interested in enertaining than educating. Not that it's trying to make a mockery of the serious subject matter, afterall this is based on a true story, but as a film it more closely resembles Bond rather than say "Downfall" or "Schindler's List". In fact it "Out-Bonds" Bond, as far as pure suspense goes. The film, although well over two hours, is rapidly paced. It's full of twists and turns as you try to figure out who is good and who is evil.

The film is directed by Paul Verhoeven who has had quite a bit of success in Hollywood. In fact he's directed his share of Hollywood dreck such as "Starship Troopers" and "Showgirls" to name a few. But before he turned to Hollywood he spent ten years making films in the Netherlands, recieving worldwide acclaim for several of his films. Perhaps "Black Book" is Verhoeven's attempt to combine the two different phases of his career.

Of course any review of "Black Book" would be incomplete without mentioning Clarice van Houten. She's simply captivating in a challenging role. Sexy, smart and fearless are just a few adjectives that describe her performance.

"Black Book" certainly isn't groundbreaking cinema, but it works pretty darn well as pure enertainment.