Nazi Resistance in Holland

Before the war, Rachel Stein had enjoyed success on the stages of Berlin. When the Dutch-Jewish singer tried to flee with her family into liberated Belgium in 1944, the escapees are betrayed and shot by the Nazis.

Rachel, played by Dutch actress Carice van Houten, is the only survivor. She changes her name to Ellis de Vries, dyes her hair blond and joins the Dutch resistance movement. In one decisive scene, Rachel -- fleeing from the Gestapo -- boards a train with two suitcases full of weapons and finds herself in the same car as the head of the SS in The Hague, Ludwig Müntze.

"Beautiful women shouldn't carry heavy suitcases," says Müntze, played by German actor Sebastian Koch, who also had a leading role in this year's Oscar winner, "The Lives of Others."

When Rachel is assigned to spy on the Nazi, who has long since broken with the regime's ideology, he uses the contact with her to try and make an arrangement with the resistance. The war is drawing to an end and the collapse of the Nazi regime is imminent.

'A living cinema legend'

Actually, Sebastian Koch hadn't wanted to play any more Nazis. "But them comes Paul Verhoeven, who is like a living cinema legend for me," said Koch. "He always made films that changed the way films are made. He's a person who always has to explore new territory, and that's something we have in common."

Verhoeven depicts the conflicting human aspects of all the characters in "Black Book," whether Nazis, Jews or Dutch. For the viewer, the lines between good and evil are intentionally blurred.

He portrays the Dutch resistance movement, for example, as being a sometimes volatile mix of nationalists, communists and Christian pacifists, which is gnawed at by latent anti-Semitism.

A critical view of war-time society

Surprisingly, this critical view of the Dutch resistance did not provoke as much criticism in the Netherlands as might have been expected.

"Not everything was as heroic and wonderful as we thought after the war," said the filmmaker. "Statistics show how the Dutch behaved during the war. Eighty to 90 percent of the population remained neutral. Some hid or protected themselves, but most people were not actively involved in resistance."

Verhoeven showed long ago with films like "Turkish Delight" and "Basic Instinct" that he knew how to master all of the Hollywood tricks. And with a budget 18 million euros ($24 million) for "Black Book," he had access to anything he could have wanted in this bag of tricks.

Black Book opens in Germany

But what makes the film impressive -- and polarizing -- is the way Verhoeven plays with stereotypes, presenting human beings with strengths and weaknesses on both sides of the fence. Starting this week, German audiences will form their opinions on the film that has already provoked over a million viewers in the Netherlands.

"Black Book" is already available in English in the US, the UK and Canada. It opens in Australia in July 2007.