Verhoeven is back

Rating: 8/10 (15 April 2007)

After a very long absence, director and infant terrible Paul Verhoeven return to movie-making with "Zwarboek", and what a return it is! One warning though: if you're expecting something over-the-top and/or satirical like in most of Verhoeven's more recent movies, look elsewhere. "Zwarboek", while far from subtle, is remarkably subdued and realistic for a Verhoeven movie, and all the better for it.
"Zwartboek" tells the story of Jewish Rachel Stein, who, after her family has been shot during an escape attempt, becomes involved with the Dutch resistance and infiltrates the German headquarters. This makes for a great story, with plenty of twists and turns and a lot of suspense, even though the end is a bit formulaic, and the pace is sometimes so high that it can be hard to keep track. The movie has quite a lot of memorable moments, which become all the more impressive once you know that a lot of them are actually based on real events, though the characters and story themselves are fictional.
What's probably even more interesting is that the picture painted here isn't the stereotypical one of good guys (resistance and allies) versus bad guys (Germans). Verhoeven shows that in war, as in the rest of the world, very little is black and white. There are corrupt resistance fighters and sympathetic Germans, and while some people are motivated by ideals, many are just by self-preservation, greed, or revenge. While Verhoeven's treatment of all this is far from subtle, I found it refreshing to see a director that deviates from the usual good vs bad theme.
For a Dutch movie, "Zwartboek" also has remarkable production values. From start to finish, everything looks and sounds very authentic (up to the deliberately poor German spoken by the Dutch) and the acting varies from excellent to decent. Carice van Houten is fabulous as Rachel/Ellis. Fortunately, Verhoeven was also sensible enough to hire real Germans instead of having Dutch actors play Nazis.
There is on big flaw here though, and that is the Theo character, played by Johhny de Mol. The character (though based on facts) is already over-the-top, but he's played so poorly by De Mol that it really makes you cringe. Some people simply shouldn't be allowed to act, and De Mol is one of them.
But this aside, "Zwartboek" is a fast-paced and suspenseful war thriller, with plenty of memorably moments, a strong story, and remarkable moral complexity.
Oh, and don't worry, there is some typically raunchy Verhoeven stuff in there too....
8 out of 10