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Venice diary - 'Zwartboek (Black Book)' review
Verhoeven's film looks set for awards as it premieres to a rapturous ovation.
Sep 4 2006
Paul Verhoeven has his eyes firmly set on the prize with the densely plotted and spectacularly entertaining 'Zwartboek (Black Book)' which received its premiere on the Lido to a rapturous ovation and much hysterical whooping. Pitched somewhere between the eternal womanly toil of 'The Life of Oharu' and the outright adventure of 'Where Eagles Dare', the film sees Verhoeven return to his native Holland to produce his first film there for twenty years, and rather than reacquainting himself with his early, quasi-exploitation pics ('Spetters', 'Soldier of Orange'), which helped him to forge a reputation, ‘Black Book’ has the manic inertia and blistering tension of a highbrow Hollywood blockbuster. But, as always with Verhoeven’s films, there’s a nasty twist…
Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten) is introduced as an unassuming Jewish school teacher who lives on a kibbutz in Israel. After a chance meeting with Ronnie, an acquaintance she made during World War II, painful memories of her struggle for survival begin to unfurl. Back in Nazi occupied Holland, she is tricked into withdrawing all her money and making a dash for the Belgian border by a man claiming to be a member of the Dutch resistance, and she sees her whole family mown down by Nazi gunfire from which she narrowly escapes. Their bodies are then stripped of cash and buried, on the order of the thoroughly contemptible officer Franken (Waldemar Kobus). So, it's a revenge flick, right? Well, for about twenty minutes or so, yes.
Rachel then decides to join the Dutch resistance herself and is given the name Ellis de Vrais where she moonlights as a cabaret singer while attempting to infiltrate a Gestapo stronghold. Then (keep up) she falls for a sympathetic German officer named Müntze (Sebastian Koch) who gradually begins to secede from his own Nazi leanings. The plotting maintains this glorious intricacy for its entire 135 minute runtime, and goes on to incorporate double agents, Nazi gold, a brutally violent rescue attempt, and lashings of garish nudity.
However, it doesn't take long for Verhoeven's almost dutiful sense of moral dislocation to reveal itself, but where a film like 'Starship Troopers' wore its allegorical subtext on its sleeve, 'Black Book' seems the more studied, insidiously bitter film as we soon find ourselves thinking the unthinkable and rooting for the Nazi scourge (Italian newspapers have gone so far as to call Verhoeven a right-wing revisionist!). Even our allegiance with Rachel is put to the test, as there's a point early on where the Christian family who have been harboring her from the Nazis are killed in a bomb attack, to which she responds, 'Phew, at least I won't have to say stupid Grace any more!'.
There have been plenty of films made recently such as 'The Pianist' and 'Fateless' which focus explicitly on the personal tragedies behind the abhorrent Nazi meatgrinder, but 'Black Book' is by far the most outwardly pleasurable, and is probably the only one in which the nastiness of the drama would not dissuade from repeated viewings. Carice van Houten gives an all-or-nothing performance in the central role where she pluckily transcends the many horrors metted out on her (in a later scene she is stripped and covered in human excrement, and that’s after the Nazis have surrendered) and responds to the mounting tragedy with a mixture of unshakable spirit, grace and good humour.
Then, just when we think everything's turned out for the best, we arrive at an ambiguous final shot which confirms what we may have suspected from the off; Verhoeven has well and truly duped us. 'Black Book' is quite literally a guilty pleasure. Now give it some damn awards.
User comments on this story
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- hellen said...
- I came across this film by accident on SBS here in Australia, I enjoyed it very much, it was an intriguing movie to say the least, food for a lot of thought........ Posted on Jan 28 2012 17:16
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- NOEL WOODHEAD said...
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ONE OF THE BEST WAR FILMS I HAVE EVER SEEN
GREAT PLOT , GREAT ACTING Posted on Nov 24 2008 13:55 - Report as inappropriate
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- NOEL WOODHEAD said...
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ONE OF THE BEST WAR FILMS I HAVE EVER SEEN
GREAT PLOT , GREAT ACTING Posted on Nov 24 2008 13:55 - Report as inappropriate
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- Aimos said...
- Zwartboek is a mechanically crafted movie consisting of three trends. First, and foremost, we have the sledge-hammer approach of Verhoeven, the Amsterdam-born director who made his name in Hollywood with Total Recall, Basic Instinct, RoboCop and the similarly unsubtle flop, Showgirls. The second tendency is, what I call, the Dutch Disease in cinematography. This results from a shared desperation to be different, resulting in such predictable banalities as someone defecating on a toilet, random nakedness, and people throwing up. For finding this formula, Black Book does not disappoint. The third tendency derives from Verhoeven's flirtation with the far right (such as a police state in RoboCop). In this film, Rachel Stein (very Jewish name, eh?) alias Ellie de Vries (played by Carice van Houten) shed no tear, when her family dies a brutal death in front of her but falls apart, in one of the most memorable bouts of overacting I have seen in a long while, when her Gestapo-in-Chief lover (responsible for the death and deportation of thousands of Jews) is shot . In a twist, Verhoeven posits that a respected member of the Resistance murdered Ms. Stein's family. (Oh well, Rachel is posited to think, in that case let's forget about the other thousands!) So, here we have it, Jewish girl loves very nice Gestapo Commander more than her family; Resistance movement is run by rogues. How different can a movie maker get!? As for the acting, if you think good acting can be exemplified, without more, by speaking many languages fluently, being able to dress up in different costumes, or being able to dye one's hair and change hair styles, you will be enamoured by Van Houten's performance. But do not worry, other well tried formulas for getting our emotions going, such as people doing many scary things, abound. Posted on Feb 08 2008 12:35
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- Ann said...
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great movie just go see it
Also te behind the scenes are a beauty. Specially the victory ride in to The Hague. Some fo the background figures give comment when their hair is cut. It's really interesting to see this at www.zwartboekdefilm.nl Posted on Sep 29 2006 17:06 - Report as inappropriate
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- Christian Petermann said...
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I viewed the movie yesterday and I have found it to be a very interesting one. Paul Verhoeven and scenariowriter Gerard Soeteman gave attention to the so called grey area of Holland during World War II. Sometimes, the line between the good and the bad is very thin and you can clearly see that the good part also commits bad things and the other way around aswell.
Good and bad points on the movie:
Good:
- The casting of the two main characters in the movie.
- The Art-direction of the movie and camerawork
- The casting of Franken and Derek de Lint as Gerben Kuijpers
Dolf de Vries also plays a nice part a Mr.Smaal
Thom Hoffman also is okay as Hans Akkermans... although... his character becomes very strange at the end... to strange in my opinion...
- The story itself is okay but sometimes it gives you the feeling to be to much a 'Dirty Dozen' or 'Where Eagles Dare' atmosphere...simply to good to be true, especially when they catch the traitor at the end... you think... yeah right...!
Some dialogues are typically Paul Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman style which is very nice! It reminds you of the earlier movies...
- The 'Who dunnit question is also interesting with a sort of 'Hitchcock scene' when Mrs Smaal is killed...
The scene which shows how Dutch treated fellow citizins who betrayed their country is also very good!
Negative points
In my point of view, they should have dated the movie back a little earlier, let's say 1943. In the beginning of the movie it's september 1944 and you see a woman already walking with a dead body in a carriage. The so called Hungerwinter started in December 1944 and not in september 1944.
I would not have used the bomber to blow up the farm where Carice is hiding... it's to good to be true that this farm gets a bomb on the roof... I would rather just have used a betrayel by someone who knows Carice is hiding there... Also The Germans come way to quickly as a 'Fire Department'... and apparantly they have also found a passport in the fire... that's like finding the passport of a terrorist in the Twin Towers... simply not believable...
The way V-man Van Gein is killed by Johnny de Mol is also not very confirming.. it's even been put on as a joke, I would have picked another way and attempt to get the bastard... An attack like the actual one on SS Kommissar Rauter on the Woeste Hoeve in march 1945.. something like that...
A voice over of Carice reflecting back to the Nazi period would also not have been a bad suggestion.
I got the book of the movie during the premiere and read the history before Carice went to hiding... in the movie, it's all going very fast... to fast sometimes... and yes, it's a big story to tell in just two and a half hours...
And yes I agree, Carice must hate this Franken dude for killing her parents... but you do not see it a lot during the movie...
The Jews who are going on an escape are way to well dressed and fed knowing the fact that you see the common Dutch people are boney during the HungerWinter.
The fighting scenes are very nice in the prison and at the resistance hide out but here to, shooting each other from so close resolves in everybody to die... to much of them survive.
The music is not very striking during the movie... I have seen better combinations at Paul Verhoeven's movie like the music composed by Rogier Van Otterloo during Soldier of Orange or Jerry Goldsmith in Basic Instinct.. these are striking combinations which do something with your mind... the music in this movie is not strong enough... I should have prefered Trevor Jones or John Williams to do the music.
At the end, you see Carice walking back to the Kibboets and already a new war starts... for most viewers I think, it's not very clear what it means because in general, they do not know a lot about that period of Israel
The way where they are paying attention to Hitlers Birthday is overdone... on april 20th 1945... I think most of them had other things on their minds... if the movie was dated a year earlier, april 20th 1944... that could have okay...
The difference in ranks between Obergruppenfuhrer Kautner (who plays his part okay) is two big comparing to Sebastian Koch and Franken... The difference between the ranks of these two is two small. I would have made Koch at least a Sturmbahnfuhrer (Major) or Standartenfuhrer (Colonel).
During a check up, you see an NSB man at a check point, that is a strange thing since they had nothing to do with that. Of course, the NSB was wrong but you do not see them around during the whole movie...
That Smaal still has so much currency and diamonds for Carice is way over the top... what is the family, multi miljonairs...?
The brother of Carice is said to be wounded and recovering from an operation... you don't see that when they meet each other...
Carice is enjoying the sun at the farm while hiding as a Jew... the spot where she is located is way to good to been seen by so called snitches or others... also, to good to be true.
Also I think concerning the Jews who are willing to flee... the time in where the movie was playing was to late. In september 1944, many Jews already thought that they would be liberated by the allies very quickly, why then try to flee to Belgium...? Also the South of Holland (Limburg and parts of Brabant) where already liberated.. why then flee to Belgian territory. Fleeing to England like in Soldier of Orange would have been more likely...
I missed real Dutch V-man like Rijk de Gooijer as Breitner in Soldier of Orange... Peter Blok is not interesting enough.
Johnny Mol, although I like him as an artist and Dj is way to sweet for his part...
Conclusion
In general I liked the movie where I played a tiny part in as a German Soldier at the SD Headquarters and it was great to see my favourite director in action from so close! I also welcomed the óther view on war and that war is not black and white and indeed - there is a grey area where a lot of Dutch have no knowing about.
I would give this movie a 3 to 4 Star rating.
Christian Petermann
Art-director www.cpdesign.nl
Klimmen
The Netherlands Posted on Sep 16 2006 03:51 - Report as inappropriate
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- gator said...
- I also just saw this at TIFF -- it fits in nicely with verhoeven's older films like Robocop, Starship Troopers, and even Showgirls, but for the first time instead of his perrenial fascistic, amb iguously nazi-like characters, he was able to have actual nazi's for the first time. Instead of just 194's style music, costumes, camera work, etc., this movie took place in 1944. It was a very thrilling, risque, old-school film noir, with modern twists, and verhoeven's expected gratuitous nudity, stylized violence, and exaggerated comic-book style melodrama. This is a great movie. Posted on Sep 15 2006 22:16
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- gaby said...
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Also just back from the 2nd TIFF screening. Found myself jumping off my seat for most of the movie. The action is non-stop, the suspense is unbelievable and Carisa's acting, flawless.
This is a great movie that will make you think. I'm still a bit shaky... Posted on Sep 14 2006 16:44 - Report as inappropriate
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- redhorse said...
- I just came back from the TIFF screening. This movie was really good. The story was really well put together, and I would have to say that this is one of the best movies I have seen at the TIFF ever. This movie just rocked! I hope this comes out on dvd, cus I definitely will pick it up if it does come out. This is one of those movies that you will think about for days after watching it. There were so many twists in this movie. Posted on Sep 14 2006 01:52
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- Terence K said...
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After reading this piece I'm looking forward to it even more! I'm a fan Verhoeven, i
an intelligent and subversive director. Posted on Sep 04 2006 16:39 - Report as inappropriate
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