Black Book

Dir: Paul Verhoeven

2006

****

Although right at the beginning of Paul Verhoeven's 2006 war drama it claims to be based on a true story, the truth is that very little of what happens in Black Book is real at all. Verhoeven has instead suggested that many of the elements of the film were true but nothing specific, although some of the events probably happened to some during the war. I don't have an issue with fiction stories set in moments in history, I think directors should be careful when blurring the lines between fact and fiction when it comes to important historical events though, particularly in war, but Black Book is pretty harmless. It is an interesting look at certain realities not usually covered in classic war movies. Like Verhoeven says himself; "In this movie, everything has a shade of grey. There are no people who are completely good and no people who are completely bad. It's like life. It's not very Hollywoodian". I agree about the grey area of war and I would agree that Black Book isn't very 'Hollywoodian' but his good versus bad argument is a little unclear in regards to the way it is portrayed in his film but there are of course many accounts of good people doing bad things and vice-versa during the war. Any excuse to throw in a bit of raunchy sex into a film but to be fair, it works. If I disagreed with Black Book due to its historical inaccuracy then I would have to disagree with Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and I'm not going to do that. It's full of twists and turns, scenes that aren't unfamiliar within war films but with refreshing originality and it's certainly never predictable. Carice van Houten is somewhat of a sensation in her role as a Jewish women who terns instead of escaping. The story of her love affair is a bit risqué but it is distrustful. It's a thoughtfully entertaining war film with thrills, action, and suspense and just about everything else you could want from the genre. I'm not sure it is every right or justified to make something entertaining out of a situation such as the Nazi regime but then there are very few war films that don't. Literacy critic Jessica Durlacher, daughter of an Auschwitz survivor, said that "The reality of 1940-45 as portrayed in Black Book compared to reality is like the Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas compared to the original in Paris" but was never offended by it. It offers food for thought, irrespective of whether any of it happened or not and it is a beautifully produced film.