Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this subtitled World War II drama from the director of Basic Instinct is intense from start to finish. Wartime takes its toll on all the characters, robbing them of their humanity. The lead character, Rachel/Ellis, sleeps with the enemy to infiltrate their turf, and people are dispensed with as the killers see fit. The violence is frequent and bloody, the sex is quite graphic, and characters swear, drink, and smoke.
Families can talk about what this movie has in common, if anything, with director Paul Verhoeven's earlier, infamously sensationalistic films, like Basic Instinct and Showgirls. Does it share any characteristics with those movies? Do you think filmmakers have a certain style that affects all of their projects? Families can also discuss the film's notions of good and evil. Are "bad guys" and "good guys" clearly delineated? Should they be? Also, what drives Ellis to place herself in the line of fire? Is it altruism or revenge? How could she fall in love with a Nazi, when Nazis killed her family? What drives a person to betray others for their own gain?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: S. Jhoanna Robledo
No question about it: Paul Verhoeven's BLACK BOOK (aka Zwartboek) is arresting. A World War II thriller that still manages to surprise -- no small thing, considering how many like it have been made -- it chronicles the survival journey of Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten), a Jewish chanteuse who becomes a spy for the Dutch Resistance after her entire family is slaughtered by the Nazis.
And so the ride begins, hurtling Rachel -- who, when she goes undercover, swaps her name for the less-identifiable Ellis de Vries -- toward the sunset of a most gruesome war. Her task: To seduce Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch), a Gestapo officer, so she can gain access to his office and plant a microphone there. But is the enemy truly an enemy? And are her comrades to be trusted?
Van Houten is outstanding -- courageous and conflicted, bold and vulnerable, her emotions accessible through a simple gesture (the tilt of her head, the slump in her walk) or even a flick of her eyes. She's incandescent in every frame, even when she's covered entirely in feces (a scene that's disturbing in its plainness and cruelty).
And Koch infuses that most difficult of characters -- a Nazi officer -- with humanity. Instead of an evil caricature, his Müntze is a weary henchman who knows the end is nigh. Hollow and dispirited, he's primed for Ellis's arrival; before she shows up to seduce him, all he has to soothe his soul is his stamp collection. When the pair improbably fall in love -- he knows she's Jewish -- it doesn't feel all that improbable.
Verhoeven, who was lured from the Netherlands to Hollywood to helm such fare as Starship Troopers and RoboCop, flexes his action-adventure muscles again in Black Book. It's got chase scenes and explosions and gunfire galore -- so much so that at times they threaten to overwhelm the movie. (The sex scenes are, also to be expected of Verhoeven, hot.) Two-thirds in, the movie feels imbalanced, and the last hour plays like it's on fast-forward -- as if the director just realized he's out of time and has so much more tale to tell.
The film's nearly omnipresent soundtrack is a distraction. Every big moment is preceded by swells of music. It's a pity: The horrors of war -- betrayal and death -- would ring more plaintive and true if the audience wasn't cued up for them. Some moments also seem incongruously played for laughs. For example, a deeply religious resistance fighter who's opposed to killing only pulls the trigger when an enemy dares to utter "goddamn."
The plot's somewhat rudimentary feel further hobbles the storytelling. Point A leads to point B leads to point C. And, except for the leads, the characters are obviously good or bad, even when the filmmaker thinks he's being subtle. One man tells Ellis, "You shouldn't be so trusting." Surprise, surprise, he's in on the con. Another example: To kidnap an informer, the resistance fighters must drug him. Handily enough, the bottle they use has the word "chloroform" inscribed on it (even though the movie's in Dutch). Even the title is a giveaway.
But objections like that aside, what's left is a movie that proves that Verhoeven's talent is bigger than Showgirls and Basic Instinct. The last few minutes, which capture a post-war Ellis (now back to Rachel) in an idyll as far removed from tragedy as can be, are actually moving. If only the director could have left his schlocky movie bad habits behind as completely.
Fans of this genre should check out the more accomplished Schindler's List and Bon Voyage.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentGraphic nudity (including a urination scene and full-frontal shots of both men and women), simulated sex acts, sexual banter. Rachel/Ellis dyes her pubic hair in front of a mirror. |
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ViolenceNearly unrelenting violence, played out in full gore. A man is shot and his brain explodes; dead bodies are dug up from mass graves; lots of gunfire, hitting, slapping, and more. |
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LanguageAntisemitic hate words and swearing -- "s--t," "damn," etc. -- in subtitles. |
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Social BehaviorAntisemitism, sexism, coercion, torture, and murder are all part and parcel of the storyline and setting. But the heroine is a brave, resourceful woman. |
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CommercialismNo products of note, save for Cadbury and a specific kind of stamp. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoApropos for the era, there's plenty of drinking and smoking. |
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