Black Book Deserves To Be Called Greatest Dutch Film

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2011)

Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven returned to the Netherlands after more than twenty years of success in Hollywood.This time,he directed this epic- scale war drama based on a true story entitled,Black Book.It is a World War II film about a young Jewish woman in the Netherlands who becomes a spy for the resistance after tragedy befalls her in an encounter with the Nazis.It stars Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman and Halina Reijn. Apparently,the movie was co-written by Gerard Soeteman together with Verhoeven.
The plot revolves around Rachel Steinn.She is a beautiful Jewish woman living in German-occupied Holland during late 1944. Her family members - who have been falsely promised safe passage to Belgium are instead robbed and slaughtered by the Germans on a premeditated basis as Rachel herself manages to escape by diving into the water and swimming away. She narrowly avoids capture, then joins the local resistance movement. With her hair dyed blonde, she can easily pass for Aryan, and when the leader of the Dutch resistance movement learns his son has been captured by Axis forces, Rachel is asked to use her feminine charms to persuade a German commander to arrange for the boy's release. She soon finds herself caught up in a dangerous double life as she becomes a sexual plaything for the Nazis while attempting to bring down their evil empire as a spy.
Blackbook is one film that is hard-core with raw violence, intense action, graphic sexuality and a twisting plot that offers a series of surprises.Despite of that,it remains one entertaining melodrama.Verhoeven's film is out of character considering it is tasteful and artistic as based from his previous work.But nevertheless,he manages to pull through as he was able to provide intriguing characters that are morally complex and ambiguous like Stein,who are ordinary people were forced to do extraordinary and even awful for the sake of good of the world and change in the course of history.It also presents a tale of courage and determination in a espionage thriller.Aside from Verhoeven,credit also should be given to Carice van Houten for her excellent performance as Rachel Stein.She was able to provide an intriguing character that was a human being who has her own moral strengths and weaknesses that the viewer could empathize and relate to for she is far from being a heroine figure-types that are expected in these genres of films.It was stated that this Black Book was considered the greatest Dutch film ever made.There is no doubt in my mind that it not pure hype and it truly deserves this credit.