nemo
Jedi
Black Book is dutch filmdirector Paul Verhoeven`s first movie shot and produced in Netherland for over twenty years.
In the interim, if you can call it that, Verhoeven seemed to had much fun directing Hollywood movies such as Robocop, Basic Instinct
and the wonderful futuristic splatter-orgy and fascism satire Starship Troopers. The latter was quite misunderstood at the time by american
viewers and critics alike, or so I believe. In fact, since its release 10 years ago Starship Troopers capability to mirror certain developments
in the U.S. seems to be even more true today.
Now in Black Book Verhoeven tells in his usual broad strokes the amazingly daring story of a dutch/jewish woman (played by the very attractive
unknown Carice van Houten) who joins the resistance and infiltrates the occupying Nazis in Netherland (1944-45) by posing as a Nazi officer`s girlfriend.
What`s differernt from other films about the Third Reich is that it`s not really about the Third Reich. Verhoeven actually dares to use the Nazi occupation
as a mere background setting for a very cinematic and at a running time of 138 min. extremely entertaining action-packed thriller which takes a closer
look at living in an occupied country (fascist/totalitarian regime) and psychopathic behaviour on more than one side. So once the basic set up is
established the "guess the psychopath"-game can begin, especially after the more obvious evildoers are disclosed.
It becomes quite clear that Verhoeven wanted to do more than a period piece. The movie reveals some nice touches which reverberate political going-ons
in our time. The Nazis repeatetly call the resistance fighters "terrorists" (am quite sure that word wasn`t used back then). The only torture scene we`re
witnessing is the infamous "water-boarding". It effectively demonstrates to the average movie-goer what presidential candidate Ralph Giuliani does NOT
consider torture. I´m not revealing too much when I say that the main protagonist survives her ordeal and ends up living in 1950ies Israel, since the movie
starts there. In the very last shot we see her going into a kibutz, which is obviously heavily guarded by Israeli soldiers. There`s an increase of gunshots
/war sounds all of a sudden and the film ends with soldiers aiming rifles from behind a fence at us!
Disclaimer: There`s one short graphic scene towards the end. Compared to his former movies Verhoeven restrains himself somewhat in terms of violence.
Contrary to Guillermo del Toros`Pan`s Labyrinth (again) Verhoeven didn`t see the necessity to film gratitious violence to bring his point across.
(Oh, and there`s also quite a bit of nudity).
As a postscript to the moderators of this forum I`ve been wondering if it`d be a better idea to open a more ongoing movie-thread instead posting on individual films? Such a thread could be called "Movies as Seen Through the Prism of SOTT". The idea is that I`m propably not the only one watching the occasional movie. Since many of us indulge in this occupation why not critically talking about the films we`ve seen, especially those who somehow reflect the discussions/theories on this forum.
In the interim, if you can call it that, Verhoeven seemed to had much fun directing Hollywood movies such as Robocop, Basic Instinct
and the wonderful futuristic splatter-orgy and fascism satire Starship Troopers. The latter was quite misunderstood at the time by american
viewers and critics alike, or so I believe. In fact, since its release 10 years ago Starship Troopers capability to mirror certain developments
in the U.S. seems to be even more true today.
Now in Black Book Verhoeven tells in his usual broad strokes the amazingly daring story of a dutch/jewish woman (played by the very attractive
unknown Carice van Houten) who joins the resistance and infiltrates the occupying Nazis in Netherland (1944-45) by posing as a Nazi officer`s girlfriend.
What`s differernt from other films about the Third Reich is that it`s not really about the Third Reich. Verhoeven actually dares to use the Nazi occupation
as a mere background setting for a very cinematic and at a running time of 138 min. extremely entertaining action-packed thriller which takes a closer
look at living in an occupied country (fascist/totalitarian regime) and psychopathic behaviour on more than one side. So once the basic set up is
established the "guess the psychopath"-game can begin, especially after the more obvious evildoers are disclosed.
It becomes quite clear that Verhoeven wanted to do more than a period piece. The movie reveals some nice touches which reverberate political going-ons
in our time. The Nazis repeatetly call the resistance fighters "terrorists" (am quite sure that word wasn`t used back then). The only torture scene we`re
witnessing is the infamous "water-boarding". It effectively demonstrates to the average movie-goer what presidential candidate Ralph Giuliani does NOT
consider torture. I´m not revealing too much when I say that the main protagonist survives her ordeal and ends up living in 1950ies Israel, since the movie
starts there. In the very last shot we see her going into a kibutz, which is obviously heavily guarded by Israeli soldiers. There`s an increase of gunshots
/war sounds all of a sudden and the film ends with soldiers aiming rifles from behind a fence at us!
Disclaimer: There`s one short graphic scene towards the end. Compared to his former movies Verhoeven restrains himself somewhat in terms of violence.
Contrary to Guillermo del Toros`Pan`s Labyrinth (again) Verhoeven didn`t see the necessity to film gratitious violence to bring his point across.
(Oh, and there`s also quite a bit of nudity).
As a postscript to the moderators of this forum I`ve been wondering if it`d be a better idea to open a more ongoing movie-thread instead posting on individual films? Such a thread could be called "Movies as Seen Through the Prism of SOTT". The idea is that I`m propably not the only one watching the occasional movie. Since many of us indulge in this occupation why not critically talking about the films we`ve seen, especially those who somehow reflect the discussions/theories on this forum.
