This past Monday, Laurianne and I headed down to the Bytowne theatre to see Paul Verhoeven's Black Book (not to be confused with Little Black Book, a horrendous romantic comedy.) Paul Verhoeven is a director whose American portfolio includes such films as Basic Instinct, Starship Troopers, Robocop, Total Recall, and the truly horrible Showgirls. None of these films are particularly good, and all seem to share a common theme of excessive violence, excessive sex, or a combination of both.

I was astonished to learn that Verhoeven has directed two movies that are considered the greatest Dutch films of the twentieth century: Soldier of Orange, and Turkish Delight. While the plot synopsis of Turkish Delight does not appeal to me, Soldier of Orange, the story of students involved in the Dutch resistance, does. I hope to see that movie some day.

Black Book was of particular interest to me because it deals with the Dutch Resistance during World War II. Being of Dutch extraction, and being a student of history, I was excited about seeing this movie. My excitement was tempered by a certain anxiousness. What would Verhoeven do? Would there be any resemblance of actual historical events, or would it be an excuse for bloody shoot-outs and mindless sex?

In the end, I was neither satisfied nor disappointed. The movie begins with the words "based on actual events" which, in the film world, is code for "we dressed everybody old-fashioned and then made up a story." The movie does a fine job in recreating the war-time Netherlands (I think), but the fictional characters do not correspond to any Dutch reality. The film is poignant at times, while at other times it is so over the top it borders on ridiculous. There is a lot of violence, which is to be expected in a movie dealing with a clash between the resistance and the Nazis. There is also a lot of nudity, which is, for the most part, completely unnecessary.

Carrice Van Houten plays Rachel Stein, a Jewish woman in hiding. Circumstances force her out of hiding and into the resistance. Further events lead her to befriend the German SD officer, Ludwig Müntze whom she initially uses for information but later falls in love with. I had a difficult time with the idea that a Dutch Jew could have possibly fallen for any Nazi, no matter how sympathetic, during this dark period of history. I could not build up any positive feeling towards Müntze, a man who presumably would have served Nazism to the end if it had been successful. The film follows Rachel Stein's trials and tribulations right through to the liberation of the Netherlands.

Despite the problems I had with this movie, I still consider it to be well-done. While it often seemed forced to me, it packs an emotional punch. The dark underbelly of the resistance is shown in all of its ugly glory. Van Houten's performance is superb, the story is intense, and many of the characters are intriguing. Verhoeven's often heavy hand succeeds in sculpting a work of merit.