WW2 in comics

Rating: 4/10 (20 January 2007)

Went to see with a group of well-meaning friends in London. Being from country which was called Soviet Union, we are spoilt by WW2 movies, a few of them epic masterpieces and of very good acting and general cinema craftsmanship quality. Obviously, they didn't quite contain naturalistic scenes of dyeing one's bodily hair prior to installing oneself into the heart of the enemy. Black Book though is very much resembling the newest wave of Russian patriotic cinema. War is easy. The enemy is pervert, idiot, greedy and fat (or bald). The enemy traitors, which are our friends, are handsome, noble, good-natured, with sad eyes and profoundly unlucky. We are not invincible, and only because we've got traitors among ourselves. We receive packages of goodies from the allies, who drop chocolate and guns when flying by. We are going to win with these chocolate and guns.
The characters are surprisingly shallow. It's got plot twists, which are of almost nauseating velocity (this is a plus), apparently good actors, but i could have stood up every 5 minutes and quote Stanislavsky - "Ne veryu" ("I don't believe it").
the main female character acts like a pioneer with her "always ready" attitude. a couple of characters are supposedly sacrificing sth (including their lives), but you don't quite feel it. There is no drama in this movie. Lot of action, well-filmed too, but no drama.
I first thought i quite liked it. Then i understood why - i generally like Dutch language (sounds funny..., with no offence). One thing though i have taken from this movie is Muntze's phrase, after staring at Ellis's newly undressed and hydrogen-peroxide-supported appearance - Du bist eine Perfectioniste (or sth like that.)