Black Book

So this DVD seriously sat unwatched on my dresser for two years. No joke. I got it from Netflix on a friend's recommendation and never watched it until now. And I must say, 'wow'. This movie, which has grossed $26 million worldwide, was the most expensive movie ever produced in the Netherlands at the time it was made. Apparently it's also been voted by the Dutch public to be the 'best Dutch movie ever made'. As am not an expert on Dutch cinema, I'm not sure how true that is, but I can attest that this was an awesome movie.

The plot follows a young Jewish girl, played by Carice Van Houten, who watches as her entire family is double-crossed and shot down by the German army while trying to flee from the Netherlands. She then changes her identity and joins up with the Dutch Resistance. She is then sent behind enemy lines to work at the German headquarters as one of the top officials 'girlfriends'.

The movie's runtime is 2 hours and 25 minutes, so there's a lot of plot packed into this movie. Honestly though, I was so captivated by the story that I didn't realize until the very end just how long the movie had been. I enjoy WWII history and movies and there's been other movies with similar plots to this, but I haven't seen any that get so many angles of the war packed into one plotline. Granted, the movie wasn't based on any actual people, but rather just actual events, but still it got the Jewish, Resistance, non-resistance, German, post-war Nazi supporters, etc all as witnessed from this central character. Almost all of the characters were pretty complex, with the exception of one that seems a little too convenient for the story. None of the characters were strictly good or bad, as it is in life, and especially during war time. It took the screenwriters 20 years to write this thing, and it really shows, because it's so well fleshed out.

The set design, wardrobe, and makeup was really great. Everything was in keeping of the period. There was so much plot to cover that the editing kept a really nice pace throughout and there was really no lags anywhere to be found.

Well, this actress was phenomenal. I was shocked, completely shocked, to learn that she did her own singing in the movie because it sounded amazing. Besides her great voice, she spoke oh about four languages in the movie fluently. Oh and she did some of the hardest scenes ever. She really took the movie up to the next level. Everyone else also did a good job but she carried the movie.

I ended up really enjoying this film. It definitely sticks with you. I always love seeing WWII or even WWI movies from different perspectives than the American one. The plot was just really great in that it showed different sides of the war in that area, without using a horse to tie all the stories together. "I never thought we'd fear the liberation".