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Black Book, The - BLU-RAY Version (2007)

Average rating

(76%)

Starring:	Carice van Houten \| Sebastian Koch \| Thom Hoffman \| Halina Reijn \| Waldemar Kobus \| Derek de Lint \| Christian Berkel \| Dolf de Vries
Director:	Paul Verhoeven
Studio:	TARTAN FILMS
Run time:	145 mins
Genres:	Drama \| Thriller \| World Cinema
Languages:	Dutch, German
Subtitles:	English
Released:	September 24, 2007

Set during the end of WWII, Black Book is the story of Rachel Stein (van Houten) who is separated from her family and forced into hiding. Trying to flee to Allied territory, she is briefly reunited with her family, until they are murdered by the Nazis. Suspecting they have been double crossed, Rachel joins the Resistance and sets out to discover who has betrayed them by adopting a new identity as the blonde Ellis de Vries. Using her womanly charms to infiltrate the ranks of senior German officers she discovers the real enemies are not necessarily the most obvious ones.

Highest rated reviews

5 out of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 5.0 stars
Excellent film

A Customer from Southampton, 8th December, 2007

This is an excellent, well acted film which is totally absorbing. Ignore the fact that the Dutch /German soundtrack is subtitled (unless you're Dutch or German..). I usually shy away from subtitled 'foreign' films, but this held our attention for its entire length, and the language actually adds to the film's authenticity - no pseudo-European American accents here. Carice van Housen is perfectly cast as the lead character, and is very plausible, as are all of the cast. If you liked Schindler's List, you'll find this equally thought-provoking.

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Most recent reviews

Rated 4.0 stars
Very black

wr1ter2b from , 18th December, 2009

This film's commentary on the work of the Dutch Resistance is a little compromised by having too much plot. Compare this with Army in the Shadows, Rome, Open City or even the more recent Flame and Citron and you will see the given circumstances of the characters play a much greater part in the shaping of the film. This is a thriller and the genre conventions drive this film in much the same way as they do in 'Basic Instinct'. I much preferred this film to that, however. This film has some integrity and a genuinely convincing tragic heroine. It final images make you realise that how easily the world still slips into war.

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2 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Rated 3.0 stars
Subtitle warning - not the usual problem

Mark Winter from Suffolk, 1st November, 2009

A genuine problem with the subtitles here. I know it's a foreign film that has English subtitles, and I regularly watch foreign language films. However, part of the film is spoken in English, and this is not subtitled. i.e. if you are hard of hearing you will only see the subtitles where a foreign language is spoken. This ruined it for me. However, my partner found the film really quite good. The plot is good, the acting good, and well recommended. However if you are hard of hearing you will NOT get subtitles where English is spoken. (although I only had one disk. I assume you can rent or buy a 2 disk version, and this may have full subtitles).

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