Black Book

I was lucky enough to see Paul Verhoeven's powerful new film at a preview. Black Book is inspired by true events even though not everything happened exactly as portrayed in the film. And I don't know if I would call Black Book a Holocaust film. There aren't any scenes of concentration camps or anything like that. I would say that it is a story about the Dutch Resistance Movement. However, the protagonist in the film is a Jewish woman.

Rachel/Ellis (Carice van Houten) has a chance to escape from Nazi occupied Holland into Belgium. However, circumstances prevent this from happening and she eventually joins the Dutch Resistance Movement. She changes her appearance and also her name - from Rachel to Ellis - in order to hide her Jewish identity. Her assignment is to get to (intimately) know a Nazi officer by the name of Ludwigh Muntze (Sebastian Koch). And get to know him she does - perhaps a little too well because fellow Resistance member Hans Akkermans (Thom Hoffman) seems to be a bit jealous. But all of this is for a purpose. The Resistance has great plans for fighting the Nazis but there seems to be a traitor in their midst. Alas, who can it be? Well, you will have to see the film to find out.

Black Book is very well directed and the script, written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman realistically portrays what the Resistance Movement went through in their struggle against the Nazis. Ms. van Houten is amazing as Ellis. She is smart, brave, sexy and vulnerable all at the same time. And both Koch (who was in The Lives of Others and is very handsome) and Hoffman are terrific in their roles.

Black Book has some very intense scenes of violence and there were a number of times when I had to close my eyes. It is very graphic to say the least. But that is how things were (and still are) in the real world. And there is full frontal nudity - both male and female. This doesn't bother me one iota. It is natural that people take their clothes off. But it might bother some people - especially Americans - who have a problem with sex and nudity.

There are some things that are a bit peculiar about the film. One thing that was puzzling was that Ellis had on perfect makeup at all times. That is quite strange, especially when she was with the members of the Resistance. But this can be overlooked because of the high quality of the film.

The film uses gray areas to tackle one of its main themes instead of stating things in black and white. No human being is completely good or completely bad. And we can see this in several of the film's characters. You just might feel sympathy for someone you thought that you would hate. And will be surprised as to how nasty someone you admired really is. This gray tone may not sit well with some people but I think that it is the best way to view human beings.

All in all, Black Book is a very fine film and I highly recommend it. And, by the way, there really was a Black Book. If you want to know what it was all about then just go and see the film. You won't be sorry that you did.