If there ever was a heroine of seismic proportions, Clarice Van Houton as Rachel Stein in the WWII epic ” Black Book ” is it. From the moment she steps onto the screen with those crimson pouty lips, raven hair and steady but ferocious gaze we know this is a broad that will move mountains. The story begins in 1944 in Holland. Rachel ( Van Houton ), a former torch song singer, is a jew in hiding from the goose steppers that have occupied her homeland. Through a series of fortuitous and some not so fortuitous events Rachel ends up working for the resistance and whipping out the peroxide, bleaching the carpet and the drapes and shacking up with one of the top brass of the gestapo ( and yes, the man is fine) . Directed by the infamous Paul Verhoeven, this joint has it all.. adventure, suspense, mystery, intrigue, sexxy times, comedy and a couple of musical numbers… but what blew me away was the story of Rachel Stein herself.. it just goes to show you that with the right combination of brains, chutzpah and black fishnet stockings a girl can do just about anything she sets her mind to. This is a hot cherry bomb of a movie !!
Black Book ( click here to view trailer ), 2007, in Dutch and German with English subtitles