What a great movie.

[Copywriter]

I just finished watching Black Book and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The story and acting was great and the BLU-quality was fantastic as well.

Glad I finally opened up the movie and watched it.

The reviewer at HighDefDigest gave the PQ/AQ 5's, but the movie itself just a 2.5.

Um, right. Perhaps he would be happier reviewing Transformers or Doom.

Anyone see this and think it was better than 2.5 out of 5?

[Gremal]

I just watched it as well and did not like it. There are many, many, many, many very important stories to tell from the Holocaust. Why would anyone want to make a movie about a "good" nazi commander...a Jewish woman who watched her family massacred and then slept with the nazi commander...a resistance fighter who was portrayed as worse than the nazis...I could go on and on and on about all the things that were WRONG with the decision to make this story into a movie. Wrong on so many levels. The film was doomed from the start no matter how good the acting or how gorgeous the picture quality.

My great uncle Lou, a virtuoso pianist, survived the Holocaust by playing for the nazis...they'd take him all over Europe and make him perform like a clown. To his dying day he refused to so much as listen to Wagner again or set foot in France, Germany or other countries where he had seen Jews face the most inhuman treatment imagineable. Let's be very clear...the problem was not infighting in resistance movements or questions of morality amongst Jews.

The other thing that REALLY bothered me about this movie was the way they scripted it so that the nazis referred to the resistance fighters as "terrorists", just as we refer to jihadists in the present day. This was a parallel the filmmakers decided to pursue (that doesn't get in a movie by accident) and one which I found totally abhorrant.

[Copywriter]

Well, I enjoyed the acting and film quality.

As always there are good and bad people on both sides.

Perhaps I enjoyed it more, because I didn't go in expecting the History channel.

Worthwhile purchase on BLU for me.

[blackhawktraffic]

I still wanna get ti and see it but I am still worried since Paul Veerhoven (sp) directed it.

[Gremal]

Originally Posted by Copywriter

Well, I enjoyed the acting and film quality.
As always there are good and bad people on both sides.

I know you didn't mean it to come across this way, but one "side" was a peaceful, defenseless population integrated in the fabric of European society. The other "side" was the nazi war machine and collaborators throughout Europe that actively participated in genocide. So why anyone would want to focus on "good and bad people on both sides" is beyond me. Frankly, the nazi commander in the story was not good. He was just seduced by a Jewish lady who he decided to not murder and allowed himself to be influenced by her. Is that "good"? Compared to what? The average nazi? I don't see what's so good about it.

Perhaps I enjoyed it more, because I didn't go in expecting the History channel.

I was told I would like the film, so I had pretty high expectations. But my reasons for not liking it go far beyond the historical part. For one thing, I am very sensitive to stereotypes. I did not appreciate that Rachel seemed to be very loose with her morals, right from the start (let alone later on, when she agrees to sleep with the nazi commander). This portrayal strengthens stereotypes that Jewish girls are easy. I also did not appreciate that the film focused exclusively on the plight of wealthy Jews which strengthens the stereotype that Jews are rich. Yet the manner in which this very sensitive subject manner is brazenly addressed in the film, with zero sensitivity and in-your-face portrayal I found in very bad taste. My greatest fear is that people who don't know what really happened in the holocaust will watch films like this and come away with many wrong ideas and horrible misconceptions. Verhoeven had a great responsibility in taking on this subject matter and he did not live up to that responsiblity.

Worthwhile purchase on BLU for me.

I can agree that for what it was, it was well done and produced very well. But what it was should never have been made, and while I will rate the video and audio highly in my review (coming soon), I intend to pan the film as did other reviewers.

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by Gremal

I know you didn't mean it to come across this way, but one "side" was a peaceful, defenseless population integrated in the fabric of European society. The other "side" was the nazi war machine and collaborators throughout Europe that actively participated in genocide.

If your unaware of a book called "Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust" - I would highly recommend it.

It's main point wasn't just the "elitist" nazis were responsible - but rather ordinary germans that participated just as willingly - in some cases even more so. For example - soldiers were doing what they were told or would be shot for disobeying orders. However non-nazis volunteered - having been under no such pressure to participate..

Much of what we are seeing spread in the media about the evil "Western" nations is potentially laying groundwork for large populations bases to believe their actions will also be justified in the future - in a similar vein for similar reasons. Some of the parrallels are quite interesting. The book is relevant not just to 60 years ago.

[Gremal]

Absolutely, and the horror of that goes far beyond Germany...the Holocaust would not have been "possible" without antisemitism throughout Europe, including France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and eastern bloc countries like Poland and Romania.