Black Book
Zwartboek
Belgium, Germany, Netherlands
2006
145 Min
Color
2.35:1
English, German, Hebrew, Dutch
Synopsis
Israel 1956. Rachel, a Jew, rather unexpectedly meets an old friend at the kibbutz where is she working as a teacher. It brings back memories of her experiences in The Netherlands during the war, memories of betrayal. September 1944. Rachel is in trouble when her hiding place is bombed by allied troops. She gets in contact with a man from the resistance and joins a group of Jews who are to be smuggled across the Biesbosch by boat to the freed South Netherlands. Germans from a patrol boat murder them all however. Only Rachel is able to escape. She is rescued by a resistance group under the leadership of Gerben Kuipers. When Kuipers’ son is captured after trying to smuggle weapons, he asks Rachel to seduce SS-hauptsturmführer Ludwig Müntze. Soon she will find out the attack in the Biesbosch wasn’t a coincidence. —IMDb
Director
Paul Verhoeven
Paul Verhoeven graduated from the University of Leiden with a degree in math and physics. He entered the Royal Netherlands Navy, where he began his film career by making documentaries for the Navy and later for TV. In 1969 he directed the popular Dutch TV series Floris (1969), about a medieval knight. This featured actor Rutger Hauer who has appeared in many of Verhoeven’s later films. Verhoeven’s first feature, Wat zien ik (1971) (trans. What do I See?), was released in 1971. However it was his second, Turks fruit (1973), with its combination of raw sexuality and a poignant story line, that gained him great popularity in the Netherlands, especially with male audiences. When his films, especially Soldaat van Oranje (1977) and De vierde man (1983), received international recognition, Verhoeven moved to the US. His first US film was Flesh & Blood (1985), 1985, but it was RoboCop (1987) and especially Total Recall… read more
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carmen
25Sep11
It was nice to see a portrayal of resistance fighters that wasn't watered down or glorified, but it seemed like there was a lot of unnecessary nudity. Also, as the film went on, the plot became less and less plausible. It was nice to see a WWII movie told from the Dutch perspective, but I hoped for more.
comeandsee
15Aug11
the great verhoeven film by some way. a great film about identity, about the blurring of the lines as not every nazi is pure evil and not every resistance fighter is a humanist light. carice van houten broke out with this role, and it is not hard to see why, she eats up the screen. the direction is stylish, but understated too. also the small bits of humour here and there, are pure verhoeven, even in this context.
Greg S. likes this
Thomas Frovin
8Jul11
This is one of those rare movies that continue to be exhilerating and engaging no matter how many times you've seen it. Classic and somehow subversive in its genre.
Zach Closs and rado like this
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What is the 21st Century?: All the Images
By Ignatiy Vishnevetsky on September 1, 2009
"When I started making movies, there were 'movies' movies. Now 'movies' seems to be commercials, music videos, images off the Internet, there
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Black Book
By Amir Syarif Siregar on April 21, 2010
Film yang berdasarkan kisah nyata mengenai buku yang berisi daftar orang-orang Yahudi Belanda kaya yang dikhianati kemudian dibunuh dan diambil hartanya. Daripada film sejenis seperti The Schindler’s… read review
Untitled
By pandoble on September 8, 2009
two words sum up my feelings about this movie: BEST ACTRESS. Carice Van Houten rocks it like no one else i’ve seen in a long while. there is so much energy in her portrayal of rachel that, as we were… read review
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