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Directed by: Paul Verhoeven Starring: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Tom Hoffman I went to see Zwartboek last week with some friends, after watching our local football team get decimated on TV. It was the opening day, and the cinema was packed. The movie didn't disappoint. It tells the story of Rachel Stein, a Jewish girl trying to hide from the German occupation force in the Netherlands. The story starts in september 1944, when the southern part of the country had already been liberated, but the part above the rivers was still occupied. I'll try to spoil as little as possible, but Rachel goes through some rather bad poo poo, and this is a small point of criticism as the emotional reaction of Rachel to said poo poo is pretty much non-existant. While this is briefly adressed later in the movie it still bugs me a bit. Anyway, Rachel ends up in the resistance and assumes the name Ellis de Vries. She is put to work in a large kitchen where food is prepared for the populace, and somehow manages to look great with lots of makeup that was apparently readily available in the last year of the war. Then several resistance members are arrested, and Rachel/Ellis is given the task of "getting friendly" with SD-officer Müntze for information. These and other scenes include lots of  and even a  but the scene with the is kind of  The characters in this movie are generally well fleshed out, except for a few instances like the one I mentioned earlier. The Germans aren't always evil and the resistance and the Dutch population aren't always good, though at times this is overdone a bit. Another thing I like is that the characters speak Dutch and German most of the time, which is rare in high-budget productions like Zwartboek. In a lot of World War 2 movies the Germans speak English and it always makes me cringe. This is also why I like The Longest Day so much. All in all I thought the movie was very well-made, with an interesting story and decent characters. People's clothing looks good, 1940's The Hague is portrayed realistically and there are some good points about the socio-political situation of the time (anti-semitism, communism). The final shot of the movie was also really great. All in all I give it a 4 and a hearty recommendation. RATING: 4 PROS: Original take on WW2, Dutch/German/English-spoken CONS: Characters could be improved a bit ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389557/
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Sep 19, 2006 17:20
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| # ? Apr 27, 2024 06:45 |
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Woah, just saw this on DVD. Carice van Houten gives an inspired, confident performance with Sebastian Koch in his second excellent role of the year (along with Das Leben der Anderen). Like Soldaat van Oranje this is a rare look from a different perspective about WWII and as a history student I'm especially psyched with the movie, and I'm convinced that Verhoeven really went to Hollywood just to take it for a ride and he's still an incredibly capable director. Rating: 5
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Apr 29, 2007 07:27
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