Black, white and grey

Rating: 8/10 (5 February 2007)

I thought this was a really good film - although I was born after the war from what I've seen in footage of war since it captures well the horror, violence and senseless death that war entails.
We use a sense of good/bad (crudely speaking) to frame what goes on around us and this show what happens to that moral compass in times when daily life simply pulls the rug of normality right out from under our feet. People don't know who to trust - enemies seems like friends, friends become enemies, one death becomes less important than another, one life not as valuable, love can seem cruel. All these conflicting situations are superbly portrayed here, in the pressure cooker of the Resistance hideaway where everything is on permanent tenterhooks and certainties become a grey fog at times.
The acting is very believable, and Carice van Houten is superb in the lead role being vulnerable, single-minded, alluring and strong. Someone else felt that she seemed unconcerned by the death around her, but I feel that the pace of the film doesn't allow time to show that, although she shows clearly at one point the release of the horror and disgust she's been keeping the lid on. In a time of war, it must be hard to find a balance between being compassionate and yet not letting your emotions rule all your judgements so that you become ineffective.
Although it looks like a true 50s film in its depiction of the period, it's bang up to date in the way it's filmed - the bombs dropping are frightening, the gunshots sickening and the randomness of death in wartime brought horribly to life. This is a modern 21st century production and it shows, which makes it all the more gripping. I was amazed to find when I left the cinema that it had been such a long film as I'd been grabbed by it from the start.
Well worth seeing.