Black Book

When I first saw "Black Book," I thought it was ho-hum. Upon seeing it again, I have a higher opinion of it, placing it closer to director Paul Verhoeven's "Basic Instinct" than "Starship Troopers." It's the story of Rachel, a survivor, a Jewish woman in the Netherlands who is forced into myriad ethically complex situations during World War II. With the Germans occupying the country, it's a world of double crosses, where everyone is hedging their bets based on which side will prevail, where the ideological differences that cause the war have little bearing on where one places one's loyalties. It's a glimpse of how the war played out away from the battlefield, not too common in the generally tired genre of combat-laden WWII films. The most memorable scene remains how Rachel, in order to disguise herself, dyes her hair. Um, all of it.

The film has several unique elements that I didn't appreciate the first time. For one, it looks at the role of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands as a rallying cry for the Resistance. And in showing a glimpse of how society is upended in wartime, we see the workings of the underground economy: the German officers show all the things they "inherit" -- the room from "the capitalists we kicked out," chocolate, the diamonds in the safe (presumably confiscated); and the Resistance lives in a world of paying for safe crossing ands working in certain factories. In such a situation, it's hard for anyone to maintain her probity and uprightness. The film also tries to connect to modern events. At a Nazi party, an officer for the invading German army says something to the local sympathizers like, "Your fight against the terrorists is our fight." Fighting for a free Europe sounds like what US soldiers and politicians might say to Iraqis.

Perhaps the most uncomfortable part of the film is the way it subverts what he think of the aftermath of the war. We see how suspected sympathizers were treated after the war, and it's morally repugnant; this is paired with showing how the resistance was not uniformly a group of ethically sound heroes, since some were morally compromised as well. This subversion of expectations is what makes the ending disturbing. Years later in Israel, Rachel goes back to her kibbutz with her family, peacefully, only to have the camera pan out to see it fenced off with Israeli soldiers manning the towers as bombs go off and children run for cover in the background and aircraft fly overhead. After seeing a film where both sympathizers and the resistance had skeletons in the closet, it's unclear what point Verhoeven is making about the modern state of Israel. All we know is that for Rachel and the others in Israel, the war is not over.