Arts & Entertainment

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In pre-World War I England, Inspector Goole calls on the wealthy Birling family to investigate
the cruel death of a young girl. Might they be implicated in what appears to be the suicide of a
stranger? Will the Inspector's scrutiny penetrate the facade of their seemingly friendly and
close-knit family? Is it possible, that even in the finest of households, things are seldom what
they seem to be?

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Thom Hoffman as Hans Akkermans and Carice van Houten as Rachel Stein/
Ellis in Paul Verhoeven's Black Book

12.

Returning To
His Roots

Director Paul Verhoeven's vivid

memories of the war in Holland shape

his new film about the Resistance.

Curt Schleier
Special to the Jewish News

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April 19 • 2007

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he filmmaker Paul Verhoeven
was just a child growing up
in The Hague during the last
years of the World War II. And the
bodies he saw lying on the street, the
hunger pangs he felt in his stomach,
are childhood memories that inform
his newest film, Black Book, which
runs at the Detroit Film Theatre April
20-22.
Black Book is about a Jewish
woman, Rachel Stein, who joins the
Resistance after her parents are bru-
tally gunned down by the Nazis. She
meets a Nazi officer, Ludwig Muntz,
and uses her wiles to get information
from him that is helpful to her cause.
It's not the first time Verhoeven has
dealt with the war and Holland's role
in it. One of his earlier films, Soldier
of Orange (1977), was also about

the Resistance. But that was history
filtered through the black-and-white
lens of nationalism. The Dutch were
good and brave; the Germans evil and
cowardly.
Black Book is far more subtle and
realistic. Thirty years later, Verhoeven's
palette includes shades of gray:
Muntz isn't evil; he knows the end is
near and risks his own life trying to
negotiate a local peace to avoid more
bloodshed. And the Dutch are not all
saints. Local women make themselves
available to Nazi officers. Stein feels
stirring affection for Muntz.
This is not the Paul Verhoeven
most of us know. He is best known in
America for his blockbuster hits Total
Recall, RoboCop, Starship Troopers
and Basic Instinct. Clearly, Black
Book is different. After years of sci-fi
and fantasy hits, "I wanted to go back
to my Dutch roots, but, even more,
I wanted to find a project that was

