Black Book

This is the movie Inglourious Basterds could have been, if Quentin Tarantino had been more interested in plot and character than self-indulgent film references. Paul Verhoeven's Black Book (2006) is a stylish, creative war thriller, a Resistance tale mixing a well-crafted story with moral ambiguities and striking action scenes. Oh, and there's Carice Van Houten too.

Rachel Stein (Carice Van Houten) is a young Jewish woman living in Nazi-occupied Holland. After her host family is killed by a German bomber, she enlists the help of Resistance member Van Gein (Peter Blok) to flee with her family to Belgium. However, their boat is ambushed by SS troops under Franken (Waldemar Kobus). Rachel survives and joins a resistance cell headed by Kupiers (Derek de Lint), dying her hair blonde and taking the name Ellis de Vries. Rachel then becomes the secretary to, and mistress of, Captain Muntze (Sebastian Koch), the local Gestapo leader. A variety of double-crosses ensue: Rachel learns that a Resistance colleague set up the ambush that killed her family, a rescue of Dutch prisoners goes badly awry, Muntze negotiates with the Dutch without authority, and Franken tricks the Resistance into thinking Rachel is a double-agent. And that's all before the war ends.

Black Book is perfectly-crafted escapism. It lacks the realism of, say, Army of Crime, but makes up for it with a deliciously complicated plot. Moral ambiguity is taken to an extreme: aside from the hateful and greedy Franken, all of the characters are complicated. Muntze is more likeable than any of the Resistance fighters, who all too eagerly turn on the Jewish Rachel. The most interesting character is Rachel's pal Ronnie (Halina Rejin), whose willingness to shag the winning side makes her the ultimate survivor. Then there's the cruel irony of the post-war scenes, where innocent people are punished and the guilty escape due to changing political realities - though at least the main villain gets his just desserts.

Paul Verhoeven made a long-awaited return to Dutch cinema after twenty years in Hollywood (Robocop, Starship Troopers). In Soldier of Orange (1977) Verhoeven delivered a fine, down-to-earth portrayal of WWII, and shifts just as easily to stylish entertainment. The action scenes are well-staged, brutally violent yet thrilling, but the focus always remains on the characters. There's plenty of sex but the film avoids the gratuity or demeaning content of Showgirls. The characters prostitute themselves out of necessity, and Rachel endures nasty treatment after Holland's liberation, but it does nothing to lessen our sympathy or admiration for them.

Carice Van Houten gives an extraordinary performance. She is strikingly beautiful and exhibits incredible star quality, dominating the screen. Rachel makes a fine protagonist, whose simple revenge motive is complicated by an unplanned romance, a thousand betrayals and the harsh reality of war-torn Europe. Such a character could be trite or unbelievable, but Van Houten maintains her dignity (and glamor) even when sleeping with the enemy or being doused in feces.

English-language viewers may recognize Van Houten, Christian Berkel, Waldemar Kobus and Halina Rejin all from Valkyrie. Berkel gets a bland role, but Kobus makes a wonderfully hateful villain and Rejin's randy Ronnie provides some light comic relief. Sebastian Koch gives a sensitive performance as a functionary unwilling to shed unnecessary blood, or to out his lover. Dutch characters are played Dolf de Vries, Peter Blok and Thom Hoffman.

Black Book is one of the decade's best war films. In a time when Hollywood war films are mired in violence and cliches, a European director shows everyone how it's done.