Black Book [2006] [DVD]

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Product Description ------------------- September 1944 – Nazi Occupied Holland. When her temporary safe house is destroyed by a bomb, the beautiful young Jewish chanteuse Rachel Stein joins fellow refugees in an attempt to reach safe Allied territory by boat. Tragedy strikes when a Nazi patrol intercepts their escape, ruthlessly killing everybody onboard including Rachel’s family; only Rachel escapes the massacre. Embittered and desperate for revenge, she joins the Resistance where, assigned a new identity as the blond Ellis de Vries, she is charged with infiltrating the German Security Service by seducing senior officer Muntze. Without warning she becomes entangled in a deadly web of double-dealing and betrayal Twenty years in the making, this stunning, sexy thriller from the internationally accled director Paul Verhoeven (Basic Instinct, Total Recall) is an epic and moving tale of great courage and fierce emotion – played out against the dying explosive months of WWII. .co.uk Review ------------- Absent from the directors’ chair for over half a decade, Paul Verhoeven returns to business with the engaging thriller Black Book, and it finds him once again near the top of his game. Leaving the disappointing Hollow Man firmly in the rear view mirror, and more in keeping with his original Dutch films than his infamous Hollywood output (Basic Instinct, Robocop, Starship Troopers and Showgirls all sit on his CV), Black Book is the story of a refugee by the name of Rachel Stein in the second World War, who embarks on a quest for revenge when her family are killed. Stein joins up with the Resistance, and is giving the mission of using her seductive charms to infiltrate the German Security Service, and the ingredients then fall into place for a labyrinthine thriller of some quality. Black Book works for several reasons. Firstly, lead actress Carice von Houten is quite excellent, while the tight screenplay is happy to provoke questions and keep the complex plot in check. Verhoeven, too, directs well, occasionally relying a little too much on one or two of his conventions, but nonetheless delivering an engrossing piece of cinema. For sure, Black Book isn’t perfect, and there are films that treat the material with more gravitas than is on display here. But it’s still a strong, well-made thriller, and one that leaves you hoping its director won’t be away for quite so long next time. --Jon Foster