A Very Good Film, But Ruined For Me In The Last 5 Seconds

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2007)

Why on earth the makers of this film decided to insert a not-so-subtle political message into the very last few seconds of what was otherwise a very good film is a complete mystery to me. It absolutely ruined the film for me. Instead of staying to watch the credits roll I just picked up and left, muttering "how could they do that." I haven't read any other reviews on these pages, so I'm curious to find out if anyone else had the same reaction. The scene is only a few seconds long, so maybe nobody else cares. Guess I'll find out.
The story line of Black Book is very interesting, if somewhat convoluted, artificial and overly coincidental. While the German military men are drawn too broadly - surely they can't all be Lumpen-Nazis, - at least members of the Dutch Resistance are given some depth of character development. They, of course, are at the heart of the story. Some of the Dutch are in the Resistance, some others are German collaborators, and most, I expect, just want the war to end. The dance between the amateurs of the Resistance who are trying to play the Germans and the professional Germans who are obviously playing the Resistance is very well done. Sometimes in the film it's difficult to tell who the good guys really are, but in war I expect there are no totally good guys.
While I did appreciate the story line, it is actress Clarice Van Houten who positively shines in the film. She brightens every scene. Halina Rijn was fine, too, but her part was relatively small. Unfortunately, for the male lead I'm afraid I'm pretty well bored with German actor Sebastian Koch. This is the second film I've seen recently in which he plays a "sensitive" German (the other film being the wonderful "Lives of Others" about the East German STASI.) If you like movies with a war and a counter-intelligence theme Black Book is for you. Not the best kind of its genre ever made, but certainly a film of much quality and substance.