Saturday Night At The Movies

What did you do in the War, Mommy?

By Dennis Hartley

If you have perceived a deluge of WW2-themed films as of late, you’re not imagining things. Most of the critical brouhaha seems to have been centered on Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters from Iwo Jima” (neither of which I have seen yet, I will admit), which likely explains why two other WW2 dramas helmed by a pair of equally noteworthy directors have slipped in and out of theatres relatively un-noticed.

Paul Verhoeven’s “Zwartboek” (aka “Black Book”) and Steven Soderbergh’s “The Good German” share some interesting similarities. They both represent a throwback to a certain type of old-fashioned WW2 adventure yarn, and they both feature strong female protagonists doing whatever it takes to survive their wartime nightmare.

“Black Book” (co-written by the director with Gerard Soeteman) is native Hollander Paul Verhoeven’s first Dutch language film in quite a long while. There is an entire generation of moviegoers who can quote lines from “Basic Instinct ”, “Robocop ” or “Starship Troopers” but have never heard of “Spetters ”, “The 4th Man” or “Soldier of Orange”.

“Black Book” is a “Mata Hari” style tale set in Holland in the waning days of the German occupation, as the Allies make their post-D-Day push across Europe. Carice van Houten gives a compelling performance as a former chanteuse named Ellis, a Dutch Jew who has spent the occupation in hiding with a sympathetic farm family. When her hosts are obliterated in a bombing raid, Ellis is left with the realization that she will now have to live by her wits if she is to survive (“The Sound of Music” meets “Showgirls”? Discuss.)

After a series of harrowing escapes and misadventures, Ellis finds herself in the Dutch Resistance. As part of a plan to spring some imprisoned Resistance fighters, she is asked to seduce the commander of the local SS detachment, Colonel Muntze (Sebastian Koch, in a nicely fleshed out performance). Things get a little complicated when Ellis begins to develop a genuine attraction to Muntze.

This is a genuinely exciting war adventure, with interesting plot twists along the way (along with a few of those patented over-the-top Verhoeven moments, usually involving fearless nudity and gore). It’s refreshing to see Verhoeven escaping from Hollywood and getting back to his roots; while I generally enjoy his big budget popcorn fare, I have always felt his Dutch films were much more challenging and substantive (Verhoeven the Hired Hand vs. Verhoeven the Auteur, if you will). Note: “Black Book” is in limited theatrical release;however if you have an all-region player and are lucky enough to live near a discerning independent video rental store, the PAL disc is already available.

Steven Soderbergh loves to pay homage. In fact, (Mr. Tarantino aside), he probably holds the record for dropping more cinema buff-centric references per film than any other director. In his most recent film, “The Good German” (filmed in glorious B&W), he may have allowed this tendency lead him too deeply into “style over substance” territory.

The story is set in immediate post-war Berlin, with the backdrop of the uneasy alliance and growing mistrust between the occupying U.S. and Russian military forces. Captain Jacob Geismer (George Clooney) is an American military correspondent who has been assigned to cover the Potsdam Conference. His G.I. driver, Tully (Tobey Maguire) is a slick wheeler-dealer (reminiscent of James Garner’s character in “The Americanization of Emily”) who “procures” everything from sundries to women and has a German girlfriend named Lena Brandt (a barely recognizable Cate Blanchett, dutifully delivering all her lines in a husky Marlene Dietrich drone). Imagine Capt. Geismer’s surprise when Tully introduces him to said girlfriend, and she happens to be an old lover of his.

To say much more about the narrative would risk revealing spoilers, so suffice it to say that Lena, a Woman with a Dark Secret, soon becomes the central figure in a murder mystery, with the hapless Geismer drawn into the thick of it.

Unfortunately, despite a certain amount of suspense in the first act, the story becomes increasingly convoluted and curiously uninvolving. Blanchett’s performance feels a bit phoned-in, and I wouldn’t call it Clooney’s best work either. Now, it is possible that Soderbergh is SO obsessed with aping the feel of a film noir-ish, black and white late-40’s war thriller, that he may have directed his actors to mimic the semi-wooden, melodramatic acting style that informed many of those films. (Even the DVD transfer appears to be in tune with the affectation; as it is matted in full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio).

The film does have a great look; the cinematography is outstanding (Soderbergh has never faltered in that department) and he perfectly captures the chiaroscuro look of a certain classic Carol Reed film (I am sure I am not the first person to draw comparisons to “The Third Man ”). There are also some other obvious touchstones here, like Hitchcock’s WW2 thrillers “Notorious (DVD)” and (especially) “Foreign Correspondent”.

At the end of the day, however, if I really want to see something that reminds me of “The Third Man” or “Foreign Correspondent”, I think if I had my druthers, I would just as soon pull out my copy of….er, “The Third Man” or “Foreign Correspondent”, if you know what I am saying. “The Good German” sure looks pretty, but feels pretty… empty.

I will survive: Casablanca, Shining Through, Julia, Two Women, Three Came Home, A Town Like Alice(TV mini-series version), Sophie’s Choice, Playing for Time, The Night Porter, Yanks, Hope & Glory, Hanover Street. And on the slightly cheesy side, but still on topic: Till We Meet Again (TV mini-series).