Featured Film Review
'Zwartboek'
International Title: 'Black Book' © 2006
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Written by: Gerard Soeteman & Paul Verhoeven
Starring: Carice van Houten, Derek de Lint, Thom Hoffman, Sebastian
Koch, Halina Reijn
Rating: R for strong violence, graphic nudity, sexuality and language
Runtime: 145 min.
Language: Dutch, German, English & Hebrew
Website: http://www.zwartboe kdefilm.nl/
Set versus the end of World War II in the Netherlands, Zwartboek (Black Book) follows the life of Jewish singer Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten) who tries to flee the Netherlands with her family to reach the liberated south. During this flight attempt Rachel's family is murdered. Rachel is the only survivor of this drama and joins the resistance as Ellis de Vries and finds out the brutal murder of her family wasn't accidental at all. The leader of the resistance, Gerben Kuipers (Derek de Lint), convinces 'Ellis' to befriend Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch), one of the high ranking nazis in the area.
Some scenes, like the first sex scene between 'Ellis' and Müntze were slightly too long, however this is rather typical for Dutch films ;-) I do believe that the obligatory 'beaver' shot (Basic Instinct etc) in the Verhoeven film in this particular one was a necessary one. It shows Verhoeven's immense attention to detail, for if Ellis' hair is blonde...
Beautifully filmed, this is definitely one of the best Dutch films ever. This film will keep you on the edge of your seat even if you don't like WW2 films. The antipathy 'Ellis' felt for Günther Franken (Waldemar Kobus) was something I felt as well, as soon as I saw the man on the screen, chills travelled down my spine. I had been wanting to see this film in the cinema, but since it was mainly in Dutch and German I couldn't get Tzu to go with me and my mum didn't seem too interested. Today I finally rented it on dvd (it's been out for a couple of weeks) and I so want to add it to my own dvd library now!
Reviewer: Branwynn Annwn