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Carice VanHouten,
Carice VanHouten,
Sebastian Koch,
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Paul Verhoeven,
Paul Verhoeven
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: 
: Sony Pictures
: Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Espionage, War, WWII
: 145 min.
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Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven returned to the Netherlands after more than twenty years of success in Hollywood to direct this epic-scale war drama based on a true story. Rachel Steinn (Carice van Houten) is a beautiful Jewish woman living in German-occupied Holland during late 1944. Her family members - who have been falsely promised safe passage to Belgium (their names recorded in the 'black book' of the title) are instead robbed and slaughtered by the Germans on a premeditated basis; Rachel herself manages to escape by diving into the water and swimming away. She narrowly avoids capture, then joins the local resistance movement. With her hair dyed blonde, Rachel can easily pass for Aryan, and when the leader of the Dutch resistance movement learns his son has been captured by Axis forces, Rachel is asked to use her feminine charms to persuade a German commander to arrange for the boy's release. Rachel soon finds herself caught up in a dangerous double life as she becomes a sexual plaything for the Nazis while attempting to bring down their evil empire as a spy. Zwartboek was written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman, who collaborated on the 1977 international success Soldier of Orange. Zwartboek received its world premier at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
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| From the man who brought you "Showgirls"......
by ChefCFP
May 31, 2009 - 4:31 PM PDT
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| and unfortunately it shows! This movie was entertaining because the acting (for the most part) was so good, but the story is very, very derivative -several times I caught myself thinking I had seen it before, but I hadn't- I had just seen the same plot line in another movie. In fact it's very similar to a (much superior) movie made the same year by an actor starring in both movies- Sebastian Koch- The Lives of Others. The script was overwrought however and has too many double crossings to be believable. And the Rachel/Ellis character recovers from having her lovers killed a little too easily (the sailor to the doctor to Muntze to marriage in a few years). I never felt any suspense or "thrill" because it was too poorly written. See The Lives of Others instead. |
| an engrossing movie
by WZoller
May 5, 2009 - 3:01 PM PDT
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1 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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| i was captivated with this movie from beginning to end as there are a lot of twists and turns along the way. acting, directing and cinematography are first rate. my only problem was with the musical score (primarily the background music) which reminded me of the music heard on a tv show or a movie of the week instead of a first rate move. in this case perhaps less music would have been more? |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.66)
29 Votes
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