Black Book

Paul Verhoeven’s first Dutch movie in over two decades, Black Book tells the story of a circa-WWII Jewish singer (Carice van Houten’s Rachel Stein) who joins the resistance after her entire family is gunned down by the Nazis. She eventually works her way up to the German SS, and starts working diligently to bring them down from the inside. Featuring a star-making performance from van Houten, Black Book is an old-fashioned and thoroughly entertaining piece of work that stands as one of Verhoeven’s more consistent efforts. (The picture doesn’t even begin to approach his Hollywood masterpieces in terms of overall effectiveness, however). The lack of subtlety within Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman’s screenplay, coupled with a running time that’s at least a half hour too long, ultimately ensures that Black Book never quite becomes anything more than an accomplished, well-made popcorn flick, although there’s certainly no denying that the film is a substantial step above Verhoeven’s last endeavor (2000’s Hollow Man).

*** out of ****