It's not often I watch Dutch movies and it was purely from word to mouth that I came over this title. But some research showed that Black Book (original title: Zwartboek) was a big hit in Netherlands and that it received positive critics worldwide. Intrigued I decided to watch it and make up my own mind. I have always been interested in history and this movie gave me a look into a part of WW2 I knew little about. Although the movie proclaims to be a true story, I have a feeling its more of a interpreted version from the Director. Still, the scenes are all well made and give a good look into the life of the Dutch during the occupation. The movie also manages to show that not all Nazi officers are assholes and that people can have emotions and conscience no matter what side they are on. Likewise we see that the evil people are on both sides as well.
The acting is for the most part top notch, especially from Carice van Houten who plays the former singer who infiltrates the Gestapo headquarters. She hasn't picked an easy role with both nudity and a lot of emotions to portray. The movie has several explicit scenes of nudity which we only find in European movies, but they are always used in the right context and are essential to the story and to understand Ellis de Vries actions. The rest of the movie is quality as expected. The music, clipping and editing is all great. Paul Verhoeven and his team have done a great job in capturing WW2 Netherlands. The only complaint I have is that in the end of the movie the story has to many plot twists and it is hard to follow what exactly is happening. Especially when it comes to who knew what and who did what. Apart from this minor thing (which I am sure I would understand if I watched the movie another time) the movie is a solid piece of film making. 9/10