Saturday February 9  BLACK BOOK     15 cert 145 mins

Holland, 2007  Directed by Paul Verhoeven, Starring Carice Van Houten, Sebastian Koch

Verhoeven’s barnstorming film is a WWII resistance thriller that centres on the relationship between a revenge seeking Jewish woman and a Nazi officer. Heroine Rachel dyes her hair blonde to pose as an Aryan and infiltrate Nazi HQ on behalf of the Dutch resistance, and avenge the murder of her family. Her relationship with the sympathetic Ludwig is initially a sham, but becomes genuine, in a film that turns the conventions of the genre on its head.
In an effort to unpick the moral simplicities that characterise resistance stories, it is the Nazi who is more of a good guy than some of Rachel’s Allied comrades.  The complex plot – with no shortage of the director’s trademark sex and violence – will have you on the edge of your seat, as you cheer for the heroine to succeed.

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