Paul Verhoeven's first Dutch film in 25 years, ''Black Book'' is a genuine masterpiece of both the action cinema and the erotic cinema. It’s a story of feisty Jewish girl (Carice van Houten) who watches the Nazis massacre her family, struggles to survive in occupied Holland, joins the Dutch resistance movement and romances a suave SS officer (Sebastian Koch from ''The Lives Of Others''). There is enough plot here for a dozen of films. The pacing is frantic. Cheap thrills and exciting double-crosses are presented with amazing clarity, despite the unbelievable moral confusion that renders many Dutch characters no better than their German counterparts. In fact, by the time Gestapo officers are railing against those who want to "negotiate with terrorists", it is quite clear that Verhoeven isn’t just making a film about World War II here. But moral relativism aside, the film also celebrates freedom, both political and sexual. Carice isn’t just fighting for her life. She isn’t just fighting against fascism. She is also fighting for truth and freedom. And she gradually realizes that those fights are not over in 1945. Unlike other World War II films, where the nightmare always ends with the Nazi defeat, ''Black Book'' presents a much more sober and realistic depiction of post-war political realities. Provocative and incredibly erotic, it is – at heart - a love story between a sympathetic Nazi officer and a Jewish girl who dyes her hair blond, pubes included, to seduce him, and who ends up falling in love with him. It's not your father's World War II movie.
