Black Book (DVD)

...about 'Zwartboek' (translates as the Black Book) from your normal award winning foreign movie, this Holland's entry for the 2006 BAFTAS and Oscars. It's Almost like watching a traditional Hollywood action drama but with subtitles, director Paul Verhoeven putting together the Netherlands most expensive movie ever at 16 million Euros here. It has the blockbuster feel for a European movie and maybe the emergence of a new style of film making we may ...
...aping the bold ambitions of what the confident South East Asian film industry is doing right now. What this isn't, is the traditional arty European movie of smoke rings, demure women and relationship skulduggery that usually dominates the award circuit. It's also not much of an award winning movie for me, perhaps its Jewish Holocaust themes that got it noticed or why it was put forward on the European film circuit.

But this is no ... more

General: Obersturmführer, open you're safe.

Günter Franken: Of course. Which files would you like to see?

General: None. You're suspected of killing rich Jews. There's nothing wrong with that. But you've been looting the bodies and keeping the valuables for yourself. Failure to turn Jewish property over to the Reich is punishable by death.

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There's something quite different about 'Zwartboek' (translates as the Black Book) from your normal award winning foreign movie, this Holland's entry for the 2006 BAFTAS and Oscars. It's Almost like watching a traditional Hollywood action drama but with subtitles, director Paul Verhoeven putting together the Netherlands most expensive movie ever at 16 million Euros here. It has the blockbuster feel for a European movie and maybe the emergence of a new style of film making we may see in the new Europe now Hollywood is skint, perhaps aping the bold ambitions of what the confident South East Asian film industry is doing right now. What this isn't, is the traditional arty European movie of smoke rings, demure women and relationship skulduggery that usually dominates the award circuit. It's also not much of an award winning movie for me, perhaps its Jewish Holocaust themes that got it noticed or why it was put forward on the European film circuit.

But this is no dumb action movie cast, far from it, most actors in the two-and-a-half epic speaking more than one language in the film. Carice van Houten, the lead actress, speaks an incredible four languages fluently in the course of the movie: Hebrew in the scenes in Israel, German with Nazi soldiers and English with Canadian army personnel and Dutch for the majority of the film. Kiera Knightly eat your heart out!

Centred on the German occupation of Holland in the war we follow the story through the eyes of the Dutch Resistance and the German Army, collaborators and double- agents, heroes and traitors the order of the day. Like I said although the film is laden with awards it's not really that intelligent on the core subjects like you would expect it to be, an old fashioned war movie in all but age, rather cliché lead characters and narrative on display here. We have seen a hundred war films on the Nazis but what we haven't seen much of is at least one German soldier is a three dimensional character role and so the films conflict is at least explored between the goose-stepping and Hiel Hitlers, whilst the hidden radios and ristance agents move between the shadows in their lowered hats and overcoat collars.

-The Cast-

Carice van Houten ... Rachel Stein / Ellis de Vries
Sebastian Koch ... Ludwig Müntze
Thom Hoffman ... Hans Akkermans
Halina Reijn ... Ronnie
Waldemar Kobus ... Günther Franken
Derek de Lint ... Gerben Kuipers
Christian Berkel ... General Käutner
Dolf de Vries ... Notary Wim Smaal
Peter Blok ... Van Gein
Michiel Huisman ... Rob
Ronald Armbrust ... Tim Kuipers
Frank Lammers ... Kees
Matthias Schoenaerts ... Joop
Johnny de Mol ... Theo
Xander Straat ... Maarten

-The Plot-

Singer Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten) is now a Dutch Jewish resistance fighter living in Amsterdam at the height of the Benelux countries 'cleansing' by the Nazis, colouring her hair and going by the name Ellis de Vries to avoid detention or suspicion. Her back story is one of tragedy, betrayed and then machine-gunned by the Germans in a boat fleeing Holland with her family to safety, everyone killed bar her, but catching sight of the Nazi officer who told them to shoot as she swam away, her inspiration to join the resistance, now a prominent and brave agent in 1944.

Gerben Kuipers (Derek de Lint) is the leader of the cell. His latest plan to infiltrate the German leadership after three of their key agents are captured, being tortured up at the chateau with many other collaborators where the Germans are based. The plan is for Rachael to woo and then seduce Captain Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch), the commending officer of the chateu, so to learn more about the enemy and maybe spring the good guys. But as with all secret organisations there are leaks on both sides, putting in jeopardy just about everyone involved in operations. But when it becomes clear that someone at the chateu is involved in the betrayal of the Jews being struggled out and then robbed at the ambush scam she suffered Rachael is prepared to go deeper and deeper cover to bring down the operation and its instigators. The trouble is she falls for the likeable and slightly honourable Müntze which complicates things somewhat. And as her identity is slowly revealed she must act fast to save her fellow brave resistance fighters or there will be none of them left standing.

-The Conclusion-

As I say this is somewhat different European film making than you would expect to see in your rental stores, a melodrama that entertains the masses rather than the cerebral. But its non intelligent approach is somehow detrimental as you expect these foreign films to be clever for some reason.

The 145 minute run time, although long, is more about the first half-hour of the film setting up the burning reasons why Rachael does the things she does than any messing about and chasing awards by being a really long tiresome movie with a message. We all know Oscar winning movies have to be epics for some unknown reason. Good lead performances keep you interested but there's no real intrigue and conversation between the rights and wrongs of the occupation here and you do feel the film needs that. But it moves on neatly and the action soon feels like a TV mini series, a start beginning and end keeping this in that European blockbusters category, which, like I said, I didn't know existed. We just don't make this kind of movie any more on the continent.

It's well scored musically and you never feel like you want to fast-forward at any point, in fact one of those movies you could go and get a cuppa and you would soon pick up the plot again. Its not one of those films where the actors tell you what just happened or what is about to happen to camera in case you didn't know in that Nick cage way but you just know without a hint. I don't want to be too cheeky but this film will appeal to women in that way. Hands up what guy or girl out there hasn't had has wife or girlfriend ask what is going to happen next in a movie when you are both only 30 seconds in...

-Imdb.com Trivia-

The British sitcom "Black Books" (2000) features its main character reading a fictional movie outline for a film called 'Bouffant'. "Sandra Bullock plays a woman who sets up a tiny hairdresser's in the trenches of the First World War". According to creator, writer and actor Dylan Moran, this is a reference to 'Zwartboek', revealed through the DVD commentary. He feared this was a too subtle reference, however, and that nobody would pick up on it.

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Awards:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389557/awards

Imdb.com scores it 8.0 out of 10.0 (21,112 votes)
RuN-TiMe 145 minutes

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389557/awardsMe 145 minutes

Summary: A different style of European film

 

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