2008 Woodie Awards
'Showgirls' director returns with style
By: James Hansen
Issue date: 5/3/07 Section: Review
After the war has ended and Verhoven has made it clear that the resistance fighters were just as nasty and devastating as the Nazis in many respects, Ellis, whose love for Muntze turned the resistance against her, is in a group of surviving Germans who have become creatures for a circus of humiliation. In what is the greatest atrocity of the entire film, surviving Jews and other Dutchman come into a building and make the Germans strip and dance for them. After refusing to do so, Ellis is smothered with human feces, disgustingly showing the depths of misery and how quickly the tables can turn when groups and given power.
With its slick storytelling combined with twist after twist after twist, "Black Book" is a smart thriller that knows it genre and knows how to speak from within it. Even though it falters and gets muddled late, the final image of the film makes the subtle point that is overdone leading up to the conclusion. Surviving is just the first step in what may be a life long struggle of recovery.
4 stars out of 5
With its slick storytelling combined with twist after twist after twist, "Black Book" is a smart thriller that knows it genre and knows how to speak from within it. Even though it falters and gets muddled late, the final image of the film makes the subtle point that is overdone leading up to the conclusion. Surviving is just the first step in what may be a life long struggle of recovery.
4 stars out of 5
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