"Black Book" / "Zwartboek": A Paul Verhoeven Movie Quiz

Answer: Saskia de Graeff

The opening of the movie takes place in 1956 at which time our protagonist goes by the name of Rachel Rosenthal. Shifting back in time to 1944, we meet her again as the young woman Rachel Stein. Finally, after escaping from an attack by the Germans she joins the Resistance and takes on the non-Jewish name Ellis de Vries.

Answer: English and Hewbrew

Throughout the movie Carice changes languages depending on whom she is speaking to. For the most part that means Dutch or German, but in a few instances she speaks English and Hebrew. Carice also does all of her own singing in the movie. Talk about an all rounded actress!

Answer: A list of transactions of money and valuables

In the black book, notary Wim Smaal keeps a record of all the money and valuables he is entrusted with by Jewish families for when they have come to collect their possessions. The book is an integral clue in finding out who betrays the Jews to the Germans.

Answer: Farmhouse

Rachel was in hiding in a farmhouse until an American bomber accidentally destroys it. Now that her hiding place has been destroyed, Rachel and her family try to make for free country. Before making their escape, Rachel visits notary Smaal to collect her father's money and diamonds which Smaal makes a note of in the black book.

For the making of the movie, an actual farmhouse was blown up! The farmhouse was located in National Park the Biesbosch in the Netherlands and was already listed to be demolished. The producers found out about it and managed to get permission to have it blown up for the movie. They only got one chance to do it right, but the end result looks terrific.

Answer: None

By quickly jumping into the water and hiding between the reeds, Rachel manages to go unnoticed. While she survives, her family and all other people on the boat are killed. From her hiding place, Rachel sees the Germans stripping the bodies of money and valuables.

Answer: Stamps

Rachel meets Müntze on a train where he proudly shows her his stamp collection. This gives Rachel an opening to get further acquainted with Müntze as she can obtain some Wilhelmina-stamps for him that are missing from his collection. (Wilhelmina was the Dutch queen at the time of World War II.)

Answer: Franken

Rachel feels sick when she meets Franken again, but keeps behaving in a normal manner. She even performs a song for the Germans and manages to impress Franken to the extent that he offers her a job. Once she is working at the SD headquarters, Rachel seizes the opportunity to hide a microphone behind a painting in Franken's office. Now the Resistance can listen into some very revealing conversations.

Answer: Van Gein

Listening in on Franken, the Resistance finds out that Van Gein had collaborated with the Germans. He approached rich Jews with the promise he would help them escape but instead betrayed them by informing the Germans when and where an escape would be attempted. In return, Van Gein would get a cut of the valuables the Jews carried with them.

The Resistance decide to get back at Van Gein and plan to kidnap him. However, their plan fails because the chloroform they use to incapacitate him is of poor quality and does not give the desired effect. Unable to incapacitate him, they see no other option but to kill Van Gein instead.

Answer: He makes her confess.

Müntze is not such a bad guy. He had lost his family due to the war and considers the war pointless. When he finds out Rachel is working for the Resistance, he makes her confess rather than report her. From Rachel he finds out that Franken had been killing Jews and keeping the valuables which should have gone to the German Reich. Reporting Franken leads only to trouble for Müntze, though, as he does not have any proof of Franken's wrongdoing.

Answer: Rachel

While Rachel is singing at the SD headquarters for the Germans to keep them distracted, the Resistance is working its way through the lower levels of the building. Despite careful preparations, the possession of a detailed map and keys of the prison quarter, their plan fails as German troops are waiting for them in the prison cells. Clearly, someone had tipped them off.

After the failed plan, Franken calls Rachel to his office. Franken is aware of the microphone hidden in his office and speaking to Rachel makes it appear to the Resistance that Rachel has been collaborating with the Germans all the time. Together, Rachel and Müntze make their escape out of the city and await the end of the war in hiding.

Answer: He gets killed before telling anything.

As a notary, Smaal has detailed knowledge about Jewish families and their wealth. On top of that, he is a regular visitor of the SD. That makes him a likely suspect for having passed on information to the Germans. Considering this, Smaal is not willing to give up his theory about the traitor right away and demands the presence of Canadian police who can give him protection.

However, before they get that far, Smaal is shot by an unknown person. Rachel takes the black book with the hope of finding out the truth later.

Answer: He is executed by a German firing squad.

Müntze chases the unknown person who shoots Smaal. During this chase he is recognised by the crowd and handed over to the Canadian forces. In their custody he meets up again with some German SD people. They readily produce a death warrant that was issued earlier as Müntze had supposedly negotiated with the Resistance.

The Canadian colonel does not feel much for having a useful witnesses executed, but eventually agrees on the basis of a law that war enemies are allowed to follow their own justice towards each other.

Answer: Insulin overdose

Akkermans, as a doctor and collaborator, still has access to a limited supply of insulin. He injects Rachel with a lethal dose, but when Akkermans is not paying attention Rachel eats some chocolate she finds on the table to negate the effect of the insulin. Jumping off the balcony of Akkerman's practice into the crowd celebrating the liberation, she manages to escape.

Answer: They close the breathing hole of the coffin he is hiding in and let him suffocate to death.

Having been found out as a traitor, Akkermans tries to leave the country. His manner of escape is the same as Rachel's way of coming to The Hague after the attack in the Biesbosch: in a coffin with a hidden breathing hole. However, Rachel and Kuipers track him down. Akkermans tries to bribe them to save his life, but Rachel closes the breathing hole and lets him suffocate instead.

Answer: Israel

The opening and closing scene both take place in Israel. In 1956 Rachel is living in Israel. She is married and has two children.

In the opening scene Rachel happens to meet Ronnie. Ronnie was a colleague of Rachel at the SD headquarters and a collaborator with the Germans. They meet again when Ronnie is on a tour in Israel with her Canadian husband. Ronnie's appearance makes Rachel think back about her experiences in the war.

In the final scene we return to Rachel in Israel. We hear gunshots; it is the time of the Suez Crisis. The Suez Crisis is referred to by Verhoeven as a reminder that the struggle for power never ends.