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Filmmaker Paul Verhoeven returned to the Netherlands after more than twenty years of success in Hollywood to direct this epic-scale war drama based on a true story. Rachel Steinn (Carice van Houten) is a beautiful Jewish woman living in Holland during the early days of World War II. When Axis forces take control of Holland, Rachel's family are killed in a bombing raid while most of the city's Jews are rounded up and sent to Nazi death camps.

Rachel manages to narrowly avoid capture, and joins the local resistance movement. With her hair dyed blonde, Rachel can easily pass for a gentile, and when the leader of the Dutch resistance movement learns his son has been captured by Axis forces, Rachel is asked to use her feminine charms to persuade a German commander to arrange for the boy's release.

Rachel soon finds herself caught up in a dangerous double life as she becomes a sexual plaything for the Nazis while attempting to bring down their evil empire as a spy. Zwartboek was written by Verhoeven and Gerard Soeteman, who collaborated on the 1977 international success Soldier of Orange. Zwartboek received its world premier at the 2006 Venice Film Festival.

Directed by
Paul Verhoeven

Cast