Zwartboek

I checked out this movie a couple weeks ago on a whim.  It was one of the few times that Netflix recommended something to me that I actually ended up liking.

Black Book takes place in The Netherlands toward the end of WW2.  The story opens up with a beautiful young Jewish singer (Rachel Stein) who is forced to go on the run because her hiding place was bombed by accident.  I’m just going to pause right here…  What kind of luck is that to open the story with?  She’s already in constant danger of being killed, she’s separated from her family, she’s not particularly happy with the family she’s hiding with because they are trying to convert her to Christianity but she’s alive and relatively safe.  Then a damaged German bomber comes in low over the lake and drops its payload simply to gain altitude.  One of the bombs goes long and inadvertently blows up the farmhouse.  Already we see that bad shit is just going to keep happening to this woman.

On the run, she meets a man sympathetic to the Dutch underground and she’s on the road to sneaking out of the country to freedom.  The man tells her to gather as much money as she can as she’ll be in hiding for a year or more.  She meets with her family’s lawyer and takes out a whole bunch of money and gems.  The man from the underground brings her to the meeting place where she is reunited with her family.  The entire group loads up on a barge and quietly floats downriver toward freedom…  They are spotted by a German patrol who opens fire on the barge.  Rachel dives overboard and everyone on the barge is shot and killed.  She watches from the shore as the Germans plunder the corpses.

She is picked up by the Underground and returned to one of the safehouses.  She is introduced to the rest of the Resistance cell members and becomes part of the team.  When one of the missions goes wrong on board a train, she is separated from the group and is forced to get by on her own wits.  She ends up seated next to a Nazi officer who she later finds out is Ludwig Muntze; the main guy in charge of the Gestapo.  Through her feminine charms, she has found an opening to get into the Hague.

After a few weeks of planning, a major shipment of guns is discovered when the driver (who happens to be the Resistance leader’s son) looses control of the van after a child runs out into the road.  See?  Bad shit just keeps happening…  The son is taken captive and brought to the Hague, Rachel (now knows as Elis) goes undercover as the personal concubine of Muntze.  Remember, she is a Jewish singer posing as a Dutch Freedom fighter posing as a Nazi whore.

And now the movie starts.  Everything up to here was a set up for the tension and betrayal that follows.  It becomes a spy thriller with atypical characters.

Just as she thinks she has Muntze relaxed, he confronts her a s a Jew.  She panics at first but they fall into each other’s arms.  She falls in love with the man, he falls in love with the woman.  Titles such as “Jew” and “Gestapo” fall away.  She uses her position in the Hague to gain information for the underground and she uses her power with the underground to keep Muntze from being attacked as a target of opportunity.  When he is framed and arrested by a crooked Gestapo officer, Elis uses the underground to rescue him from execution when they go in to rescue the rest of the underground members.

The movie hits major themes like loyalty and honor but comes at it from unusual angles.  When your own son is in danger and you have the chance to save him, will your principles and morals stand up against reality?  When the line you said you wouldn’t cross begins to shift, is betrayal of the cause in your heart?  What about the will to survive?  War brings out the worst elements in even the best people.  Love can bring out decent qualities in the most treacherous people.

The film ends with the discovery of the rat in the underground who was collaborating with the Nazis.  Loading up wealthy Jews on barges and sending them into the hands of the Gestapo.  Rachel was set up to take the fall for the rat but escapes and clears her name by offering the infamous “black notebook” she took from the collaborator.  There is a final chase scene where Rachel and the leader of the resistance have to capture the escaping Nazi before he makes it to the border.  They get him in time and find him loaded with all the money and jewels from the murdered Jews.  They sit and wonder what to do with all the money.  The final scene shows Rachel and her new family ten years later walking through the gates of Kibbutz Stein with a plaque designating that the Kibbutz was set up with the money they recovered from the Nazis.  Just as they get through the gates, gunfire erupts and troops pull out to protect the encampment.  The violence in that part of the world never ends.

This was the first movie in a long time that I had to sit and think about after the screen had gone black.  There was a lot to take in and think about.  There’s an entire history in a large part of the world that I know very little about.  I know everything we’ve been taught in schools, I know a little bit more from my study of the history and I know a couple of tidbits of culture from personal interaction but that’s not enough of the story.  As the movie ends and the main character is living in a state of constant war, it hit me that I know so precious little about fear.  It is not for me to debate (or until I learn more even offer an opinion) on right or wrong in the Middle East land wars but I think I want to learn more about it.

Visually, the movie was great.  It was beautiful.  I had the subtitles on (although there WAS an English dub available) and while I always like to hear the natural cadence of the original languages, I found it a little difficult in the few scenes where they switch from Dutch to English or from German to English.  It only happens a couple times but for some reason hearing English while reading the English subtitles fucked me up…

This is the fourth movie I’ve seen Christian Berkel turn up, all of them in Nazi roles (Downfall, Valkyrie, Inglorious Basterds).  If you’ve seen any of those movies, he’s the short bald Nazi.  The rest of the cast was new to me.  The obvious star is Carice van Houten as Rachel (Elis).  She’s gorgeous and made me really feel sympathy for her character.  She was also in Valkyrie but I think she really stood out in this film.  The lecherous and crocked Gestapo officer was typical in his role and even the guy playing Muntze could be described as adequate but not stellar.  This was her movie all the way and that’s how it was written and filmed.  I’m sure if they wanted another character to shine, I’d think differently.  But as it stands, this movie is well worth checking out.  It’s a bit long but you won’t notice, you’ll enjoy every bit of it.

8 of 11 Skulls