Verhoeven: Black Book is a return to my childhood
Verhoeven says there is much of him in Black Book
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Published by Corgi Books, out now, paperback, 464 pages, £6. |  |
Wednesday, 17, Jan 2007 04:20
Black Book tells the story of a beautiful Jewish singer Rachel Steinn at the end of the second world war. Dutch director Paul Verhoeven says there is a lot of him in the film.
Can Black Book be called a return to your roots?
Yes it is, to the roots of my childhood, in fact. I was seven when the second world war ended and I have very strong memories about the war. So going from Los Angeles back to Holland was quite an adventure - like going to the United States when I was 48. That was also a difficult adventure. This was tough at the beginning because I didn't know much any more about Dutch crews or Dutch actors, so I had to dig myself in as soon as possible. But ultimately the result of the whole thing was that I am very happy with what happened because I got all the talent that I needed.
If you talk about my roots, I would add to that after doing Hollow Man it was a promise that I made to myself that I would only take on a movie that I cared about. Because I just did Hollow Man because I could do it, not because I thought it should be done. So I felt that I should not do that any more. I felt it was a step too far. So I had to come back and do something that I believed in again. I had become a film director because I thought I could express something in an artful way. But that became more difficult in the last few years in the USA. I had worked on this script for a long time and I had to do it.
Is it because you have these childhood memories during the war that this film is so powerful?
I think that plays a part. I would say it plays an atmospheric, emotional part. But plot-wise, no. Plot-wise it is all archival research. Some of the scenes I discovered in 1966 when I was doing a documentary about a Nazi leader. The scenes you see at the end of the movie that shows how the Dutch treated collaborators were well known to me. I had always felt that it would be part of a movie; I did not know which one. Finally I could do that scene in this film. One of the reasons to do this movie was that scene. I was seven when the war ended so the characters are certainly not my neighbours that I am talking about. Emotionally of course these years under occupation as a child were very important.
It gave me the possibility somehow to let myself drop into that period. That was much easier than to drop myself into Vietnam because I have no connection. I would probably hesitate to do a movie about the war in Vietnam because I would ask what my connection was with that. I was living in Europe; I saw it from a distance. I could not do the same emotional, atmospheric thing that I did with this movie.
What were your childhood memories of surviving this living nightmare?
There are two sides to that. There is the side basically that there was no food. In September 1944 the Allies were halted and something started that the Dutch called The Hunger Winter. I remember that my father had to go out in the early morning on an old bike to the south of
Holland to friends or farmhouses to get a little bit of bread. So all that is all true and it basically was a horrible time.
I was an only child and my parents were always afraid for me. So I know the anxiety of that time. On the other hand, I think we should never forget that which has been so well expressed by John Boorman in his movie Hope And Glory.
That was true too. I remember seeing German soldiers throwing grenades in the water and all the fish coming up to the surface. The fascination with the war as a child was also a very strong aspect. The launching pads of the V2s and the V1s were about one mile from house, so I could see these enormous rockets going over my head. Which I called the most spectacular special effects ever. There was an enormous amount of fascination possible as a child; combined with a certain fear. But I was so well protected. I didn't get sick and I survived. So strangely enough I have a very positive feeling about that period.
Even my parents - who are dead now - said it was possibly the most beautiful period of our lives because we were surrounded by people who were loyal, we were all trying to survive and everybody was giving food to other people, inviting them to their table. Very Christian I would say. When peace came everybody became individuals again and that feeling disappeared. If you say it was a time of horror, yes. Clearly if you were Jewish, there was nothing positive to report. But if you were living in the Hague at that time there was a lot of fascinating things for a child. Going back to that time is for me a pleasure.
Has the film opened old wounds in Holland?
You would expect that because these things [the treatment of collaborators] have not been discussed too much. But strangely enough there are no negative remarks about the film. Nobody has got angry. The Dutch have embraced the movie. They must think that there is a certain kind of reality and perhaps there is the feeling that these people [in the film] are not them. They seem to accept the movie for what it is and these dark tones are not disturbing them.
It might be that the presence of Carice Van Houten - who has a very strong, charismatic radiation - leads them through the movie without any problem. They can be with her and feel ok about everything. You would expect that the things that are revealed on the big screen would be hurting for a Dutch audience, but to my amazement, nothing like that happened. They embraced it.
How difficult was it to recreate second world war?
Much more so than when we did the other second world war movie in 1977. There is so much modernity now. There are perhaps ten houses that are good and the streets are full of signs. To change that is very expensive. So it was a long search to find elements in the Dutch landscape or streets that would be simple enough to camouflage it. Ultimately we found these locations, mostly in the Hague. It took three or four times more time than in 1977.
Black Book is out in cinemas nationwide today, click here for InTheNews.co.uk's extended review.