Verhoeven sets things straight

Rating: 8/10 (30 September 2006)

I saw 'Zwartboek' last week and I was actually pleasantly surprised. The Dutch review I had read wasn't really good and I'm not particularly a fan of Paul Verhoeven. I don't think his 'Soldier of Orange' is that good since has so many stereo-types, the good Dutch fighters and the bad Germans. But 'Zwartboek' is Verhoeven's way of settings things straight. In the Netherlands we've been long aware of the fact that more people were collaborating with the Germans than people were resisting them and now Verhoeven has shown that in a movie as well. It's clearly a movie that makes you understand that no one is all right or all wrong, it's always grey and never black and white. Someone suggested that Verhoeven was influenced by the current war on terrorism and the war in Iraq because a German officer in this movie talks about the Dutch resistance fighters as being 'terrorists' but this is in fact actually what the Dutch resistance was called by the Germans. It just shows that the word 'terrorist' is never objective. The acting in this movie is really good, especially Carice van Houten, who has received praise for her performance everywhere. However it really is a 'Hollywood-movie' which is not really surprising since Verhoeven has spent the last 20 years in Hollywood and this movie had the largest budget ever for a Dutch movie. But don't let that keep you from seeing this movie 'cause it's still a very moving picture that shows the true horrors of the Second World War whilst at the same time it makes you understand the difficulties of right and wrong in the war.