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All Movie Info
Starring:
Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Derek De Lint, Christian Berkel, Waldemar Kobus, Carice van Houten, Halina Reijn, Peter Blok, Ronald Armbrust, Frank Lammers, Matthias Schoenaerts, Johnny de Mol, Xander Straat, Halina Reijn, Dolf de Vries, Michiel Huisman
Directed By:
Paul Verhoeven
Written By:
Gerard Soeteman, Paul Verhoeven
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Black Book (2007)
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Movie Review by Ezra
October 23rd, 2007
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Black Book is Total Recall director Paul Verhoeven's first film since 2000's horrible disappointment Hollow Man, a film that had the best trailer for a bad movie that I've ever seen. Black Book, however, is a return to form, undoubtedly his best film since his 1987 masterpiece Robocop.
The story, set toward the end of World War II, concerns Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten), a Jewish singer who adopts the name Ellis de Vries in order to infiltrate the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance. She accomplishes this by becoming the lover of Nazi Commander Ludwig Muntze (Sebastian Koch of last year's The Lives of Others), who, despite his Nazi affiliation, is an empathetic character due to Koch's sensitive portrayal and the overall moral ambiguity of the film. This ambiguity is even more evident as the story progresses and Rachel is progressively used and abused by both the Nazis and the Resistance; ultimately, her degradation (and it gets extremely nasty by the end) is a punishment for her desire to do the right thing.
Black Book is like nothing Verhoeven has ever done in the United States (his other films include Basic Instinct and Showgirls). While it retains the sex, violence and cinematic coolness of his more mainstream films, this one is like Lars von Trier gone Hollywood. I say this with all due respect to both Verhoeven and von Trier; Black Book's theme of a woman being punished and degraded for trying to do the right thing can be seen in all of von Trier's best known films (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark and Dogville), but while von Trier's aesthetic automatically alienates some viewers and completely engages others (like myself), it is difficult to imagine anyone being put off by the style of Black Book, which is beautifully shot in the style of a Hollywood film.
I highly recommend this film; it is one of the very best I've seen this year.
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