Carice van Houten portrays a spy who is part of the Dutch Resistance during World War II. Set against the backdrop of the German occupation of the Netherlands during WW2, the story follows a Jewish singer turned spy (van Houten) who manages to infiltrate Gestapo headquarters in order to assist the Dutch Resistance. Sebastian Koch takes on the role of a German officer with whom audiences may feel some empathy, while Waldemar Kobus appears as the antagonist. Thom Hoffman is featured as an operative for the Resistance. "Black Book" (2006), also known as "Zwartboek," is a European World War II film directed by Paul Verhoeven that combines elements of drama, action, mystery, romance and tension. The movie brings to mind other films from around the same time like “Inglourious Basterds” (2009) and “Valkyrie” (2008). It doesn’t reach the heights of the former, but it is comparable to the latter in quality. Even though the film has a considerable running time, the narrative progresses at a good pace, although there are moments where it feels slightly disjointed. Van Houten delivers a noteworthy performance in her demanding central role and Koch is easy to root for. There was one particular scene that didn’t quite ring true for me, but I could overlook it. Sadly, the final act contains a plot development involving a character whose actions don't seem consistent with what came before. The film has a length of 2 hours and 25 minutes and was filmed in the Netherlands, with scenes at the beginning and end shot in Israel and studio work completed in Brandenburg, Germany. GRADE: B-

Source on TMDB