Marisa van Eyle Movies

Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven returned to the Netherlands after more than twenty years of success in Hollywood to direct this epic-scale war drama based on a true story. Rachel Steinn (Carice van Houten) is a beautiful Jewish woman living in German-occupied Holland during late 1944. Her family members - who have been falsely promised safe passage to Belgium (their names recorded in the 'black book' of the title) are instead robbed and slaughtered by the Germans on a premeditated basis; Rachel herself manages to escape by diving into the water and swimming away. She narrowly avoids capture, then joins the local resistance movement. With her hair dyed blonde, Rachel can easily pass for Aryan, and when the leader of the Dutch resistance movement learns his son has been captured by Axis forces, Rachel is asked to use her feminine charms to persuade a German commander to arrange for the boy's release. Rachel soon finds herself caught up in a dangerous double life as she becomes a sexual plaything for the Nazis while attempting to bring down their evil empire as a spy. Zwartboek was written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman, who collaborated on the 1977 international success Soldier of Orange. Zwartboek received its world premier at the 2006 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Fantasy and reality are combined in this Dutch allegory about the dangers of materialism based upon a play by Gustav Ernst. It is set in a grim and gray one industry town. The industry is a huge wire factory. The company goes bankrupt and the working class residents go into an economic tailspin until the Americans buy and reopen the place. Simultaneously, Gina, a young entrepreneur looking to be free of her lover Harry, joins up with a local computer expert who gives her lessons. The town happenings are quietly observed by a young girl. While the town folk are busy making money or having sex, a strange phenomenon occurs: the town is slowly overtaken by red roses and other plants. The film ends on a grim note with an insane Harry running about clutching a chainsaw and driving a forklift while the wire factory across town explodes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide