Black Book – Great Plot Filmed with a Convincing Sense of Realism

Gosh, it was the first time I saw an actress sitting (gracefully) in front of a mirror dyeing her pubic hair blond and I wasn’t even shy watching it.  It was so artistically filmed.  If you enjoy watching an espionage type of movie packed with high entertainment value of suspense, thriller, and seduction, this Dutch and German production with a hint of Hebrew and English may thrill you.

The time line of the story is set towards the end of World War II.  It was the rising of the Dutch Resistance versus the Nazi stationed in Holland.  “Black Book” is the most expensive Dutch film ever made (doesn’t it sound familiar with the foreign films these days?) and I can certainly see where all the money has gone into.  Every single detail is being attended to.  I felt as though I was being transported back to year of 1944.  I could almost smell the scent of the antiquity.  Details that are beyond the surface, some are historical, some are just “making sense” (like the stinging after effect of the dyeing of … erm … pubic hair). 

There is much character development in this 145 minutes foreign film and the entire plot is very much entwined with human emotions (love and family) as well as human flaws (greed and betrayal).  It watched like reading a good thick wartime novel, except the element of war is perhaps not the focus of this movie.  Are all Nazis bad and all members of the Dutch Resistance heroes?  According to the film director Paul Verhoeven, a shade of greyness on moral ground is simply what real life is.  Too bad, I don’t know the languages and I found it hard at times to follow the subtitles while distracted by the scenes and the acting.

“Black Book” may have received a mixed review within the Dutch community but the International markets love it.  Perhaps we are in need of something fresh with an age old formula of the Holocaust; perhaps we are not Dutch enough to feel for the lack of moral black and white between the Nazis and the rest.  This film has been nominated and has won a few awards.  The real gem of the movie, I think, is the beautiful Dutch stage and film actress Carice van Houten.  The plot has provided her a wide spectrum of emotions and opportunity to shine.  You will get to love our heroine.  And her real life relationship with her co-star Sebastian Koch (for those who have seen the film, it’s Ludwig Müntze, the German SD Officer) explains the chemistry on the big screen.

Do bring along a friend or two to watch to show.  It will be fun pasting the pieces together after the show.

On a side note – especially when I opened this blog entry with such a hot scene – the director Paul Verhoeven has worked on (besides “RoboCop” and “Total Recall”) “Basic Instinct”, “Showgirls”, “Starship Troopers”, and “Hollow Man” – all of which have elements that bring out the beauty of the female sexuality in forms of art.  I would say I love them all (except “RoboCop”).

Gosh, I have watched so many movies over the years!