Going Deutch

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2007)

By definition all Resistance movies have things in common. Almost invariably there will be a set-piece in which the Resistance in question break into the local Nazi stronghold to rescue anything from one to half a dozen prisoners, then there'll be an account of the day-to-day life in an Occupied country, arrests, beatings, torture, etc. Black Book throws in another wrinkle more at home in cop/gangster movies - it is, in fact, being played out right now in 'The Bill' a long-running cop show on British TV - the one where someone goes undercover, infiltrates the enemy camp and falls for the 'target'. Black Book is a fine example of the genre but we have to ask ourselves is it possible for a film about the Resistance to eclipse Jean-Pierre Melville's definitive 'L'Armee des ombres' and the answer is, of course, no, but that didn't stop, for example, Lucie Aubrac, which ran Armee a close second - and both titles featured Resistance members penetrating Nazi headquarters to rescue comrades. On the other hand if we MUST have another Resistance saga then this is as good as anything that ISN'T L'Armee des ombres; if you can get over the slightly unbelievable charmed life of the heroine played by Carice Van Houten as a sort of Candide without the innocence who, time and time again and against all the odds survives intact whilst all around her are being slaughtered then you're almost certain to enjoy this lengthy saga. Van Houten has, somewhat ludicrously, been compared to Scarlett Johannson but leaves Johannson dead in the water both as a beauty and an actress and Sebastian Koch is equally able as Nazi turned love object. There are twists throughout so that several times you assume it's over only for yet one more turn of the screw. So long as no one mentions it in the same breath as L'Armee des ombres this is highly entertaining.