Black Book

Movie review by S. Jhoanna Robledo, Common Sense Media
Black Book Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 18+

Mature WWII drama taps into base human instinct.

R 2007 135 minutes
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Parents say

age 17+

Based on 4 reviews

Kids say

age 17+

Based on 4 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

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.

Community Reviews

Michel V.
Michel V. Adult
October 12, 2020
age 18+

Extensive graphic sex

This COULD have been a really good movie. The story is compelling: the adventures of a Jewish singer in Nazi-occupied Holland infiltrating Dutch Gestapo HQ. There is action and suspense and it has big names from European cinema. The cinematography is excellent and top Dutch director Paul Verhoeven shows his craft. The first 30 minutes of the movie are compelling and pass without a single swear word that I could tell and focuses on main character Rachel Stein as she flees from one hiding place to the next. There are two scenes with very graphic war violence that earn the movie an R rating. After that, it suddenly becomes a pornographic movie, with very graphic full frontal male and female nudity as the camera voyeuristically portrays bedroom scenes of the undercover Rachel literally under the covers with a top Gestapo officer she wants to seduce. Private parts of men and women are displayed multiple times. I turned the movie off about 45 minutes in. No Christian can watch this movie without harming his soul (Prov. 6:27). This movie should have been rated X and is fit for no theater or household.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Moorey
Moorey Adult
September 21, 2018
age 18+
See all 4 parent reviews

What's the Story?

BLACK BOOK 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. Rachel goes undercover to seduce a Gestapo officer (Sebastian Koch) 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?

Is It Any Good?

No question about it: Paul Verhoeven's Black Book (aka Zwartboek) is a World War II thriller that still manages to surprise -- no small thing, considering how many like it have been made. 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).

The plot's somewhat rudimentary feel hobbles the storytelling. And, except for the leads, the characters are obviously good or bad, even when the filmmaker thinks he's being subtle. 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.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about 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? Families also can discuss 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?

Movie Details

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