Nazi Leadership Pictured in the Black Book - Term Paper Example

Black Book Film Analysis Introduction Black book is a Dutch World War II film of 2006, which is co-written and directed by Paul Verhoeven. The film is based on a few true events and characters, which involve a young Jewish lady from Netherlands who becomes a spy in resistance in the period of the World War II after a tragedy, befell her during an encounter with the Nazis. This film projected its world’s premiere in September 2006 at Venice Festival and was later released within the same month of 2006 in Netherlands. Actually, the press of the Netherlands was quite positive since with the three Golden Calves the film lack book won the greatest awards in the Netherlands festivals in the same year (Hill 56). In the time of its release, it indeed was the most expensive Dutch film that ever existed as well as the most commercially successful film in the Netherlands. The film stands out more realistic depiction of some history. It has been used to offer the conventional wisdom that the Dutch and the resistance were the heroes while the Germans with the Dutch sympathizers were eventually the villains. Additionally, the film acts as a magnificent cross in the business and art. It has been such an entertaining film that appeals the audience from the professors down to the shop assistants which remains worthwhile for many years. The Film Analysis During the final years of the World War II, a beautiful woman singer Rachel Stein finds refuge with the Tsjempkema family in the rural part of the Holland. She waits out the war just like any other Jew in Europe as a popular and a wealthy singer. Separated from the family with some moment away from being captured by the Gestapo, her temporary house is destroyed by the Allied bomber in fire by a German fighter where she is left in the arms of Michel Huisman-Rob a very sympathetic boy who promises Rachel’s safety in the period. The following morning Rob helps Rachel to her contact in the town helping that she will be assisted in finding her family to escape across in the liberated territory (Harris 123). On arrival at home, Mr. Smaal with the wife Diana Dobbleman who is a compassionate lawyer having worked secretly in helping the Jews to escape from Holland, reluctantly arranges that Rachel joins the family and crosses the enemy lines in the allied territory, marking her name in a little leather notebook. In the period of the dangerous crossing, the German troops ambushed the boat whereby the Nazi kills the boat passengers ruthlessly but Rachel narrowly escapes jumping overboard in a river. She is later in the following morning rescued by Gerben Kuipers, one kind and a generous man among the leaders of the Dutch resistance. Gerben offers Rachel a safe place to stay and gives her a job. Here, Rachel decides to be such radical and a resistance fighter seeking revenge against the Germans embittered by the memory on the ruthless murder of the family members. In the accomplishment of her initial mission, Rachel escorts another leader of the Dutch resistance known as Hans Akkermans to smuggle correspondence and the guns abroad a train. Appearing as a couple they have hope in sneaking past the troop of German patrolling the station, on the event when the German announces a very thorough bag check, her quick and effective thinking leads her into the arms of Ludwig Muntze, Sebastian Koch, the head of the Dutch SD (Harris 144). Her charm captures the attention of Ludwig Muntze, the head of the group such that as the soldiers request for her bag to search, the Sebastian Koch instructs them to leave immediately. Their short-lived encounter gives a lasting impression on both Rachel and Ludwig but as they both believe that to be the last encounter together (Hill 77). However, the prediction appears to prove short-lived immediately after an accident reveals the attempts in transporting the weapons ending the capture of several major resistance fighters, which includes the Kuiper’s son. Consequently, Kuipers solicits both Akkermans and Rachel to breaking into the SD headquarters to release the captives. In memory of her encounter with the leader, Muntze, Rachel volunteers to seduce Muntze to ensure the release of the captives. Her first meeting with Muntze causes her to be hired as the assistant assured with close and an intimate contact with the leadership of the forces around by Muntze. In befriending Ronnie, she is confronted with the ruthlessness of the Nazi regime and is forced to print the execution orders in her captive compatriots. Soon she can learn of the dire conditions of the prisoners finally realizing that the future of their entire survival is in the hands of Muntze. The ruthless nature of the Nazi leadership normally would never yield, but she discovers that Muntze resolved wavering under the much weight of the inner conscience. Even before Muntze is in a position to complete a secret negotiation with resistance to ease the conflict and the fighting in exchange for the captives, Franken, his second in command, brings out Muntze secret kind of negotiations to the General Kauntner where he is arrested and condemned summarily to death for aiding the resistance and for treason as well (Bloom 79). Akkermans mounts a rapid rescue in an attempt to release the captured resistance fighters seizing the moment of turmoil within the Nazi leadership. However, the surprise arrival was anticipated by the Germans especially of their small squad within the SD headquarters. Here, Akkerrman is solely turning out to be alive having been unable to save not even one of the captured prisoners. Not known to the resistance fighters Rachel manages to help Muntze, who has been her love to escape (Bloom 45). This failed escape eventually leads to the resistance in believing that particularly a self-serving traitor had betrayed them. On learning of Muntze’s escape assisted by Rachel, they begin believing that Rachel had exchanged some information on his release. From this period, the run on from Nazi and resistance, Rachel and Muntze spend some significant period waiting out the war together. Later, in several months, based on the Allied liberation of Holland, Rachel and Muntze return to seeking out Mr. Smaal's assistance in escaping the harsh judgment within the successful Dutch resistance. However, their going back to the jubilant city is quite not welcoming. They are both confronted with a cruel vengeance as Muntze is recognized as a leader of the SD (Harris 88). In an attempt to flee throngs of civilians who demanded his arrest, he is captured and consequently executed on orders of General Kautner in claims of yet another victim of his ruthless regime. Once more while alone, Rachel uncovers the people that framed her as their traitor and right her blighted war period record. In the event of delving deeper in the previous encounters, Rachel uncovers the trails behind the deceit pointing of the compatriots she at some point counted as her closest friends and consequently embarks on a retributive justice of herself, to the rights and the wrongs of the unforgiving period of the history. Carice Van Houten describes Rachel as a strong-willed and pretty heroine though made of blood and flesh quite different from the rest of the characters in the play. Rachel has some naïve childish bit, but she can, however, look after herself in standing up for herself and courageously for the man she loves (Harris 100). Even though Muntze is a German, she still has guts and finds ways of helping him escape. Concerning the shoot of the black book film, it appears quite different from other films since it was not rushed because getting the light right for a scene could even take up to 45 minutes and as well competently has the luxury of a good stand-in such that one can easily stay in the trailer in preparation for the real take. It gives an individual a sense of being taken seriously as an actress. In the earliest glimpse of the woman, Rachel a Jewish heroine of the film Black Book, she is being referred to as the breakfast. She drizzles a crucifix of jam into the porridge, smiles ingratiatingly and stirs it vigorously. The vigorous stirring is the Paul Verhoeven’s stock in the trade. As the most successful filmmaker in Netherlands of the years between 1970 and in 1980s he in the period alienated critics with funders of his frank treatment of libido, aggression, as well as the ethical equivocacy (Garcia 34). Summarily, his pictures thrive with a lot of irony, and the superb Black Book is such a double-faced affair. In his production for the two decades, the Rachel’s experience is used in holding a glass for the little examined time of the Dutch history towards the end of the Second World War. With the loss of her family, the singer finds herself in with the Resistance cell, given a new identity and eventually infiltrates the local SS HQ through a liaison with the senior officer Ludwig Muntze. For Verhoeven, the ostensible dutiful and heroic are not quite distinguishable from the inane and the venal, the films Hague liberation of sequence has been blithely jubilant whereby the counterparts depicted is a nightmare ordeal, in keeping the reversal of the historical expectation. The film charts the progress of the woman set on the independence and survival with the willingness to use sex. In the film, Rachel is entirely sympathetic although as canny taking her role-playing life with aplomb. Van Houten on barnstorming the performance makes a comparison with Garbo and Jean Harlow accentuated by a bold and a saturated palette, but Rachel is quite far from the sole character that is well versed in the use of glamour. Indeed, the political assumption or even the visage might distort as much as the Black Book reveals. The press of Dutch was quite positive about the film (Garcia 56). In NRC Handelsblad, Dana states that in the Black Book, Verhoeven mainly does not primarily focus on the moral discourse but rather on the human measure and with non-cynical approach of his female lead and even of love has really given a new color to the general work. Additionally, a literary critic Jessica Durlacher describes the entire film in Vrij Nederland with comparisons of the reality in 1940 to 1945 a portrayed in the Black Book such as the Eiffel Tower in the Las Vegas in comparison with the original in Paris. The international press positively gave a comment on the film and specifically on Van Houten. According to them the ‘black book’ was a great fun which was old fashioned war sort of movie in parts, although with very deep undercurrents concerning the fugitive Jews, collaborators, the resistance inclusive of the messy politic of the war. Being Verhoeven, it shows a lot of sex and a scene in which the pretty Rachel bleaches her pubic hair. With that aside, hers was just a star-making performance in putting anyone in the shade with Scarlett inclusive. The TIME magazines with Richard Schickel named the film as one among the top ten movies ranking it as number 5 and calling it ‘dark’ a richly mounted film while others saw the film as old fashioned stylistically with a lot of manipulating within its plotting (Ėrenburg 34). Schickel as well saw a thing so satisfying in the film worked out the fates of the troubled, yet with believable characters. The film has however been reviewed in most historical journals and the documentaries made on the making of the film. After the several years of the filmmaking, Verhoeven went back this homeland, the Netherlands for the making of the black book. The whole story was put down by screenwriter Gerard Soeteman and Verhoeven, who has for the long period been behind its success (Ėrenburg 76). Laurens Abbink Spaink, who was a Dutch writer, later turned the screenplay by both of them into a thriller novel. The novel adds a few things to the film. It gives Rachel Stein a gone past, memories and a house unlike in the film where she did not have her personal space. Works Cited Bloom, Joshua and Waldo E Martin. Black against Empire. Print. Ėrenburg, and Semenovich Grossman. The Black Book. New York: Holocaust Publications, 1981. Print. Garcia, Nina, and Ruben Toledo. The Little Black Book of Style. New York, N.Y.: It Books, 2010. Print. Harris, M. A et al. The Black Book. New York: Random House, 2009. Print. Hill, Lawrence. The Book of Negroes. London: Black Swan, 2010. Print. Read More