Before INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, there was BLACK BOOK, an off-the-walls, wild, action-packed Nazi revenge thriller. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.There is truly no other filmmaker out there like Paul Verhoeven. The Dutch filmmaker, who turns 85 this year, is both beloved and abhorred for his over-the-top, absolutely extreme, and VERY hard R-rated stories he puts onscreen. This is the guy who did Basic Instinct (1992), an erotic thriller about a sexy femme fatale who likes to kill men with an icepick during sex. He did Total Recall (1990), a sci-fi film featuring a scene with a three-breasted woman. He did Showgirls (1995), the highest-rated NC-17 movie of all time and considered to be the “best worst movie” ever. More recently, he did a movie called Benedetta (2021), an erotic period piece featuring a scene where a nun imagines Jesus Christ himself saving her from a snake… (And yes, there are also a LOT of sex scenes.)
You may think I’m kidding, but I’m not. Whether you love him or hate him, Verhoeven stands out for his insane filmmaking. He sees things in his own way. He has an imagination that is thrilling, provocative, and even very funny. Way back in 2006, he debuted a big-budget but little seen film titled BLACK BOOK, a Nazi spy/revenge/action thriller. It preceded Inglourious Basterds (2009), a similarly made Nazi thriller which came out three years after. BLACK BOOK has all the style and far-fetched ingredients of a Verhoeven thriller. It’s also one of the most entertaining, deeply underrated action films I’ve ever seen.
As Jewish film history continues to be taught and analyzed more and more all these years later, Verhoeven’s film is still always left out. Perhaps it’s just too wild, too over-the-top. BLACK BOOK and Inglourious Basterds are indeed similar movies in terms of storytelling, but BLACK BOOK is far racier. (If you haven’t caught on yet, Verhoeven LOVES eroticism in his movies.) The movie, which debuted at the Venice International Film Festival and later the Toronto International Film Festival, received good reviews overall, scoring a 76% on Rotten Tomatoes.
“A furious mix of sex, violence, and moral relativism,” the consensus reads. “BLACK BOOK is shamelessly entertaining melodrama.”
“Shamelessly entertaining” is the best way to describe this movie, and it’s certainly why I love it so much. Verhoeven is making neither a huge political statement nor a “serious” war movie. He just wants you to have fun. He wants you to cheer when the Jewish characters get revenge on these Nazi perpetrators. You’re meant to shout and applaud at this kind of movie, like a late night movie at a grindhouse theater. BLACK BOOK exists in its own sensationalistic, lurid genre.
Now, I know I keep bringing up Inglourious Basterds¸ but it’s important I do because that movie paved the way for over-the-top Nazi thrillers. Before that film, it would probably be eye-raising to enter a producer’s office and explain that you’d like to make a bloody, non-historically accurate film where the Holocaust is the forefront of the story. After Tarantino’s smash hit, everything changed. People loved the risk this movie did in making a wild film with strong Jewish characters taking a stand against evil. Personally, I believe BLACK BOOK deserves more credit. Before Brad Pitt and a group of American Jews blew up a movie theater filled with Hitler and his Nazis, there was this unknown, equally bonkers movie.
Although my incessant explaining that Verhoeven’s films are dirty may imply that he’s misogynistic, he’s far from it. The women in his films are FIGHTERS. Fierce. Ferocious. You can make up your own mind regarding the theory of whether Sharon Stone knew that Verhoeven was going to film “that scene” up-close in Basic Instinct¸ but regardless, his female characters are tough as nails and so complicated.
Carice van Houten, most recognized for her role as Melisandre in Game of Thrones¸ leads BLACK BOOK as Rachel Stein, a beautiful Dutch-Jewish singer living under the Nazi regime in the occupied Netherlands during 1944. After her home is blown up by an Allied bomber, she seeks the help of Mr. Smaal (Dolf de Vries), an attorney who has been aiding her family for some time. He arranges for the group of them to escape to the liberated south of the country. The family reunites and hops on the boat until out of nowhere, a group of SS soldiers, led by the nefarious Obersturmführer Günther Franken (Waldemar Kobus, portrayed like a villain from a comic book), pops out of nowhere and shoots them down. Rachel escapes while her entire family is murdered.
Desperate and alone, Rachel joins a local Dutch resistance group. She dyes her hair blonde, gives herself a new alias named Ellis de Vries, and agrees to help infiltrate the SS. When the leader of the group’s son, as well as other members of the group, are kidnapped, Rachel/Ellis agrees to do the unspeakable: seduce SS-Hauptsturmführer Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch). Müntze, played remarkably by Koch, isn’t what he seems. At first, he seems like any other gross, virile Nazi, but there is a shyness and inexplicable kindness to his face. Is he…hiding a secret like Rachel? Does he actually hate being a Nazi? Who can we trust in this movie?
No one and nothing is what it seems in BLACK BOOK, and that’s the kind of way a blockbuster should be. The twists and turns keep on coming. Is that character secretly working for the Nazis? Is that Nazi secretly working for the Resistance? A LOT more happens in this film, but I’ll leave it here. Go into this movie with a deep breath and be prepared for some action, thrills, sex, and totally nuts filmmaking. The film is two and a half hours long, and no matter how over-the-top Verhoeven gets in scenes, you can’t help but root for Rachel. Here is a strong-willed, fearless Jewish woman unafraid to step into danger. Van Houten is more than superb. With the old-fashioned hairdo and femme fatale body gestures and dialogue delivery, she could have made Rachel into an objectified sex object, but she doesn’t. Rachel wants revenge, and she’ll do anything – even let a Nazi touch her – to get it.
Could there ever be a Black Book 2? I doubt it. Will this film ever become a cult classic? Sadly, I still doubt it. 17 years later and this film still hasn’t earned its rightful status. I don’t know if film historians or movie buffs will ever talk about BLACK BOOK the way they should. Verhoeven is nearly 90 and still making crazy films. Whether you’re disgusted or thrilled by his tone, you’re also indubitably entertained. Don’t deny it!
BLACK BOOK is now available to stream on Tubi.