Writer Unboxed

Occasionally, a genre film comes along which stays firmly rooted in the conventions of the genre while messing with the viewers preconceptions and expectations. Usually the attempts are clumsy and self-indulgent. Paul Verhoeven’s Zwartboek, or Black Book, is anything but.

I’m a sucker for good war movies, and Black Book leaped off the shelf at me. I wasn’t put off by the fact that it was a Dutch film so much as it was a Paul Verhoeven movie, he of wretched Showgirls infamy. But I was intrigued by the logline: Rachel Stein, a Dutch Jew, tries to survive in Nazi-occupied Holland. OK, strong female lead, Nazis, unusual location–worth the $3 rental and a few hours.

A gripping two hours it was. The story follows familiar terrain: Rachel Stein, a Jew, sees her family mowed down by Nazis while trying to flee German-occupied Holland. She’s rescued by the Dutch Resistance, who recruit the plucky and beautiful Rachel–now Ellis–to seduce a Nazi SS officer and gain information that would free a group of captured Resistance fighters. Unfortunately for Ellis, she’s fallen in love with her German officer, who not only figures out she’s a Jew, but who risks his life for her. Meanwhile, both sides become increasingly brutal as the end of the war approaches, and the bodies pile up.

Black Book is certainly an old-fashioned war epic peppered with stock genre characters: plucky cabaret singer Rachel Stein, who changes her Jewish name to Ellis de Vries (Carice Van Houten, terrific in a punishing role) and does what it takes to survive; Dr. Hans Akkerman (Thom Hoffman), daredevil leader of the Dutch Resistance who uses violence as a first result, not last; and conflicted Nazi SS officer Ludwig Muntze (Sebastian Koch, an actor who specializes in complicated characters and was really good in The Lives of Others). But what elevates the film is that Verhoeven and his screenplay partner Gerard Soeteman takes these conventions and uses them to inject tension into the story. The viewer never really knows what each character is capable of: unbelievable bravery or unbelievable cruelty. In Black Book, everyone is drawn in shades of gray. Nazis are capable of compassion; Resistance leaders of bigotry and senseless acts of violence.

Van Houten as Ellis de Vries carries the film. Say what you will about Verhoeven’s preoccupation with female nudity and exploding bodies, but he gives his female leads plenty of strength and range. Van Houten can do both vulnerable and steely at the same time. Her lipstick or hair are never mussed even after a night of wild sex or running guns for the Resistance, but despite these cornball situations, we root for her because of her plucky resourcefulness. Her character has to make compromises at every turn to the point that her body itself becomes a contested field where war rages. The Dutch may hide their Jews, but a lot of them don’t like them, and she has to use the only thing she has left–her beauty and brains–to survive. Grief is a luxury Ellis can’t afford.

Black Book is well worth studying for how a writer can take a stock character and use those preconceptions to strengthen tension and add unexpected plot-twists. It’s also a pretty kick-ass war movie.

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