Black Book (2006)

7.4 ? Sep 14, 2006 2h 25m

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Overview

Israel, 1956: Jewish teacher Rachel Stein rather unexpectedly meets an old friend at the kibbutz. It brings back memories of her experiences in the Netherlands during the war, memories of betrayal. In September 1944, Rachel's hiding place is bombed by Allied troops; she makes contact with a resistance member and joins a group of Jews to be smuggled across the Biesbosch to the freed South Netherlands. Only Rachel escapes a massacre by patrol Germans, and is rescued by a resistance group under the leadership of Gerben Kuipers, whose son is captured trying to smuggle weapons. Kuipers asks Rachel to seduce SS-hauptsturmführer Ludwig Müntze, a mission that she will soon learn that the boat attack wasn't a coincidence.

Overview

Genres

Drama Thriller War

Release Date

September 14, 2006

Rating

7.4 /10

Runtime

2h 25m

Official Trailer from YouTube

Carice van Houten

Rachel Stein / Ellis de Vries

Sebastian Koch

Ludwig Müntze

Thom Hoffman

Hans Akkermans

Halina Reijn

Ronnie

Waldemar Kobus

Günther Franken

Matthias Schoenaerts

Joop

Theo Maassen

Prison Guard with Baret

Derek de Lint

Gerben Kuipers

Christian Berkel

General Käutner

Dolf de Vries

Notary Wim Smaal

Peter Blok

Van Gein

Michiel Huisman

Rob

Ronald Armbrust

Tim Kuipers

Frank Lammers

Kees

Johnny de Mol

Theo

Xander Straat

Maarten

Diana Dobbelman

Mrs. Smaal

Timothy Deenihan

Canadian Colonel

Nolan Hemmings

British Intelligence Captain

Skip Goeree

Ronnie's Husband

Wuchak

6.0/10

Aug 09, 2020

_**Carice van Houten plays a spy working for the Dutch Resistance during WW2**_ During the German occupation of Netherlands in WW2, a Jewess singer turned spy (Carice van Houten) gains access to the Gestapo headquarters to help the Dutch Resistance. Sebastian Koch plays a sympathetic German officer while Waldemar Kobus is on hand as the heavy. Thom Hoffman plays an agent for the Resistance. “Black Book” (2006), aka “Zwartboek,” is a Euro WW2 film by Paul Verhoeven that balances drama, action, intrigue, romance and suspense. It’s reminiscent of contemporaneous flicks like “Inglourious Basterds” (2009) and “Valkyrie” (2008). It’s not great like the former, but it’s in the same league as the latter. Despite its length, the story movies along swiftly, albeit awkwardly on a couple occasions. Carice shines in the challenging key role and Koch is likable. There was one scene that I didn’t find convincing, but it was forgivable. Unfortunately there’s a twist in the last act involving a character that doesn’t gel with the character’s previous actions. The film runs 2 hours, 25 minutes, and was shot in the Netherlands with the bookend scenes filmed in Israel and studio work done in Brandenburg, Germany. GRADE: B-

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