This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 at 11:40 am and is filed under B, Drama, Foreign Language, Thriller/Mystery, War, Z. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Black Book (Zwartboek) (2006) ****1/2
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn, Waldemar Kolbus, Derek de Lint,
Dutch director, Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Hollow Man) shot this gripping, WWII spy drama in his native language and it was first released as Zwartboek in The Netherlands. The screenplay, written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman, is inspired by the true stories of Dutch resistance fighters, and the resulting project was the most expensive Dutch movie ever made. The expense is justified, and the subtitles are worth putting up with because this is a compelling feature with strong characters, impressive acting and an ever-growing story that picks up from a slow (or was just my usual resistance to a foreign-language film?), confusing start to quickly pull us in.
Carice van Houten is Rachel, a beautiful, fleeing Dutch Jew, whose family is betrayed and murdered. Numb with pain, she soon finds herself involved with the underground resistance and is asked to establish a romance with a German SS officer, Ludwig Muntz (Sebastian Koch). She is successful and soon finds herself running into Gunther Franken (Kobus), the leader of the unit that murdered her family, as well. The story is well-paced and has plenty of twists along the way to an excellent ending.
History buffs will love this movie, and film fans will agree. There may not be enough action to hold all the ADD viewers, but the excellent story and quality performances and directing make this a little-known renter’s gem.
