After narrowly escaping death, young Rachel Rosenthal becomes part of the Jewish resistance,
assuming the name Ellis de Vries. Her superiors order her to seduce a Gestapo officer named
Ludwig. Ellis is successful in her mission but soon finds herself falling in love with her mortal
enemy.
Straightforward stories about the Holocaust are enough of a challenge to make into motion
pictures. The films must maintain an appropriate level of sensitivity and historical accuracy while
taking enough artistic license to produce a work that will adequately impact viewers and inspire
them to learn the lessons of how genocide and anti-semitism blot out humanity. Films like The
Pianist and Schindler's List are controversial and shocking--and those are among the most critically
acclaimed movies based on events from the Holocaust. They frame the story in the proper historical
and emotional context.
Despite her defenseless predicament in Nazi-occupied Western Europe, Rachel Stein (Carice van
Houten) is portrayed as a promiscuous opportunist who makes no pretense of seducing a nazi
commander, captain Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch).
Of the thousands, perhaps millions, of important stories from those blackest of days, Dutch
filmmaker Paul Verhoeven chose an absolutely disgusting, morally ambiguous tale. The story
focuses on a wealthy young Jewish lady who manages to survive the Holocaust through a
combination of sheer luck, vocal virtuosity and by sleeping with a nazi commander and with a
fighter in the resistance movement. All this after seeing her entire family gunned down next to
her. To make the story even more complex and disturbing, the nazi commander is portrayed as a
"good guy" and the resistance fighter turns out to be a "bad guy".
As if the plot isn't hair-raising in and of itself, Verhoeven handles it with the grace and sensitivity
of an elephant in a delicate garden. Perhaps he was confused and thought he was making
another action flick. And indeed, to look at the cover art of the Blu-ray, one might get the
impression they will see an intriguing spy-turned-lover thriller. On the cover, adjacent to lead
actress Carice van Houten, appears a quote from film fanatic Peter Travers of Rolling Stone. He
declares Black Book to be, "Provocative and potently erotic! There's not a dull second in it!"
Down below, the tagline reads, "To fight the enemy, she must become one of them." The back
cover of the Blu-ray has another sensationalist quote, "An irresistible rush!", attributed to
Richard Schickel of Time.
It's difficult to see how anyone sensitive to the plight of Jews in the Holocaust would not take
offense at the cavalier, promotional and disturbing manner in which Black Book is marketed and
made. The filmmakers know very well that Rachel Stein did not "become one of them" and yet
they allowed this statement and the inappropriate narrative of the film to take precedent over
the troubling reality Jews faced throughout Europe during the Holocaust. And unfortunately,
that's just the beginning of Black Book's many, many problems.
From the opening moments onward, Stein is portrayed as a seductive, promiscuous diva. The
film presents her as having the moral integrity of a tramp with few qualms about who she sleeps
with--including a nazi commander--and this plays into the troubling stereotype that Jewish girls
are easy. Similarly, Stein's wealthy family ties play into the stereotype that Jews are rich.
Popular culture has enough propaganda to enforce those dangerous generalizations. In fact, nazi
propaganda enforced both myths, too. The last thing we need is a film that further plays up
harmful stereotypes. Yet, Black Book does so in a forthright, unapologetic way that I couldn't
help but find inappropriate and repulsive.
Most disgusting was the way the film delved into moral ambiguity. Nazi Captain Ludwig Muntze
(Sebastian Koch) was portrayed as a respectable, quiet stamp collector. His family, it was
revealed, had been killed in an allied bombing campaign. One gets the impression that the
filmmakers want us to feel sorry for this nazi commander! Nowhere is he shown to have done
anything wrong or inhuman. Perhaps Muntze is presented this way in a failed attempt to make
Stein's affair with him seem palatable. But of course it did not seem palatable. Meanwhile, the
strongest fighter in the resistance movement turns out, through a series of plot twists, to be in
league with the nazis.
So what is the message here? That even the nazis had noble leaders and resistance had bad
leaders? That we should consider sleep
ing with the enemy from time to time? Why would any
filmmaker in his right mind decide this is an appropriate, worthy, important or representative
tale to tell about the Holocaust? And if it is not appropriate, worthy, important nor
representative, why bother to sink the time and money into telling it? These are important
questions that really ought to be put to Sony, Verhoeven and the producers.
As if breaking taboos one after another isn't enough, the film even tries to have relevance to
current events and trips on itself some more. Throughout the second half of the film, we
constantly hear the nazis discussing the resistance fighters as "terrorists". The nazis in Black
Book talk of snuffing out the terrorists in much the same language that the current U.S.
administration speaks of Islamic terrorists. This similar language does not get into a movie by
accident. The filmmakers seemed to be consciously comparing U.S. policy with fascist nazi policy.
The bottom line, though, and the reason for the very low score of this film, is that viewers who
may not know much about the Holocaust could watch this movie and come away with many
wrong ideas about the nazis, the Jews and what really happened in Europe during World War II.
And for that, Black Book does a deep disservice and injustice to all who take seriously and try to
learn from the events of history.
It would seem fitting if the technical merits of Black Book are as disappointing as its story and
direction. But the picture throughout the film is absolutely reference quality. Impeccably shot and
produced in lifelike color, the depth, detail and overall presence of the imagery is nothing short of
stunning. From skin tones to black level, from the vivid green of the Dutch countryside to the deep
red of the nazi banners and flags, the MPEG-4 codec provides ample evidence that BD-50 is the
ultimate reference format.
Watch the night scene when Rachel is briefly reunited with her family. Even in the dark, there is
ample contrast and no digital artifacts--just the gentle hint of grain. Blu-ray is like film reels for the
masses.
Like the video quality, Black Book's audio was phenomenal. The soundstage was solid and cohesive.
Sounds eminated from between speakers, showcasing the superb audio engineering that underlies
the uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround mix. Note that the PCM track is in the original Dutch and
viewers who speak English will rely on subtitles. But the sound of the voices reveals clues essential
to following the story. One feature I enjoy of BDs like this that showcase superb audio engineering
is that the sounds appear to come unstuck from the speakers. The LFE and surround channels are
used sparingly, but effects like car and plane engines, gunfire and explosions are disarming in their
realism and palpability.
Both the BD and DVD of Black Book were released simultaneously and contain the same features.
Frankly, Verhoeven's audio commentary was outright nauseating as he, like his film, ignored the
delicate, sensitive nature of the plot and boasted instead about making Black Book and technical
production matters. Vehoeven is joined by various cast in the "Making Of" special. But I cannot
recommend this supplementary material as it seems silly to discuss what attracted the principles to
the . To cap it off, it's in standard definition and it doesn't include a 13-minute interview with
Verhoeven and a 22-minute feature with van Houten, which, along with a 4-page booklet, were
included in the European release. That's ok. Few afficianodos will count themselves big enough fans
of this film to warrant such material.
Black Book came highly recommended and I looked forward to reviewing it. I realize that others will
enjoy the film and not have a negative reaction to it, but this just makes me more strongly resent
the story and the way the characters were portrayed. Lately, in popular culture, it has become
fashionable to find a way to make everyone morally equivalent; to make all viewpoints ethically
equal and to report them without emotion. Journalists and now filmmakers seem to have hit upon
this moral equivalency in telling their stories. But when the story is the plight of Jews in Nazi-
occupied Europe, there is no room for moral equivalency. And therefore there ought to be no
reason to make a film showing a promiscuous Jewish woman sleeping with an admirable nazi
commander and double-crossed by a nazi collaborator in the resistance. While such a story may be
based on a true story, the truth is not fully represented in Black Book. Not by any stretch
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