Black Book

Starring: Carice Van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman,
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Thriller, War
2006

Times Seen:
Tim: 1


Summary: A Jewish woman (Carice Van Houten) infiltrates a German headquarters during WWII. As the war slowly comes to an end, her assignment becomes far more dangerous.

Review:

Tim: This World War II drama is quite interesting. It tells a little-known story about the heroics of a small group of people fighting the NAZIs. It is really the story of one woman, and the sacrifices she makes for her people. It is also far more complicated than that. The movie is quite long, at over 2 1/2 hours, and the story becomes far more epic than we first imagined.

Carice Van Houten does an outstanding job as our heroine. She has a great deal to do here, pulling off a wide range of emotions. She is believable and quite impressive in her role. Sebastian Koch is excellent as well. He is far better than we first anticipate.

The movie is oftentimes difficult to watch. There were so many atrocities committed, and we definitely see some terrible acts committed. The film really shows this at various points. I really believe that watching movies set in time periods like World War II are important for viewers to watch. This is especially true when they tell stories that are not quite as well known. The story is not only entertaining, but educational as well.

Black Book is a well made film that suffers from being too long, and occasionally delving too much into minute detail. The film often gets bogged down and can be somewhat slow and requires effort to stick with it. While a good movie, this is certainly not the masterpiece it was intended to be.


Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates