![]() But his tremendously exciting film can suddenly, unpredictably move you to tears. ![]() Verhoeven bites off more than he can handily chew. Not to give too much away, but Black Book takes us down byzantine corridors concerning the traitors and profiteers in the Dutch Resistance and the abuse of prisoners after the war that rivaled Abu Ghraib. Verhoeven is counting on the fact that we’ll follow her anywhere, and we do. But the film belongs to van Houten, 29, a sexy, showstopping beauty with the gift possessed by only the best actors to make you feel the emotions roiling beneath the surface. Koch, who portrayed the playwright in the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others, proves himself again to be a romantic, riveting screen presence. They are easily he hottest couple in movies right now. The chemistry between van Houten and Koch is palpable. But a chance meeting with Nazi chief Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch) leads to her most dangerous mission: Beguile the widowed Müntze into bed, get a job working at Nazi headquarters and bug the place so the Resistance can listen in.įrom that kernel springs a plot that Verhoeven loads with incident and thrilling action, taking time out for Rachel to sing at Nazi dinner parties and fall in love with Müntze, who wants to arrange a truce before the war ends, to avoid more senseless killing. Told to dye her hair and pass for Aryan as singer Ellis de Vries, Rachel smuggles guns on a train with flirtatious Resistance doctor Hans Akkermans (Thom Hoffman). Spurred on by revenge, she joins the Resistance. Taylor Lautner Is 'Praying' For John Mayer Ahead of Taylor Swift's 'Speak Now' Re-ReleaseĬarice van Houten, a in the making, plays Rachel Stein, who sees her family slaughtered while she escapes by diving to safety. The title refers to the book containing the names of Jewish families who spend their savings for boat passage out of German-occupied Holland in 1944, only to be betrayed to the Nazis, who rob and murder them. The best was 1979’s Soldier of Orange, tale of the heroic Dutch Resistance, a theme that Verhoeven and screenwriter Gerard Soeteman seek to re-examine and even repudiate with Black Book. The Amsterdam-born director made his name in Hollywood sending h-nuld to Mars in Total Recall, uncrossing Sharon Stone’s legs in Basic Instinct, building a better police state in RoboCop and crafting the most watchable flop ever with the deliciously awful Showgirls.įor those with longer memories, Verhoeven first made his mark in the Netherlands with a series of feisty films ( Spetters, Turkish Delight, The Fourth Man). In part, it’s a love story about a sympathetic Nazi and a Jewish girl who dyes her hair blond, pubes included, to seduce him. Just for starters, no movie about the Dutch Resistance during World War II has any right to be this wildly entertaining, not to mention this provocative and potently erotic.
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