Schlock Book

In the early 1970's Paul Verhoeven made a series of films in Holland that were unconventional, sexy and toyed with the radical ideas of the spirit of '68. Rutger Hauer often starred in them, and while they weren't outstanding they signalled a director who wasn't afraid to film what interested him, was very happy to press the 'shock' button, and who was reluctant to compromise. Then came Hollywood and a series of mainstream fare; 'Robo-Cop', 'Basic Instinct' and the schlockiest of the lot 'Showgirls'. There was some critical defense of these ultra-commercial films, and much was made about their supposed radical sub-texts.

'Black Book' is touted as being a return to the more honest film making of his early days. However to me it looks like once you're up to ears in schlock there's just no way back. This was poorly plotted, simplistic, cliched stuff, and didn't even have the tension or suspense to make it a decent war movie. There was no serious attempt at delving into the disturbing psychological impact that the events at the end of the second world war had on the subjugated Dutch population, and in comparison to some of the complex, and difficult films that Fassbinder made about this period, this twaddle seems insultingly trivial, gratuitously titillating, and maybe even anti-Semitic.