Towards the end of World War II, a singer named Rachel Stein (Carice van Houten) attempts to flee the Nazis in the Netherlands. She is tricked by a traitor who has set a trap for those escaping, and her family are killed. Joining the Dutch resistance movement and adopting a new identity, she becomes a spy, tasked with getting close to SS commander Ludwig Müntze (Sebastian Koch) to gain access to strategic information. But matters are complicated when she develops real feelings for Müntze.
This is a brilliant thriller, with so many twists and turns – as various betrayals and double crossings abound – that it makes your head spin.
Carice van Houten is superb in the lead role and by making her relationships with both sides believable the film does a good job of blurring the good/evil divide and building in shades of grey.
Director Paul Verhoeven moves away from the gleefully violent style of RoboCop and Starship Troopers, but his accomplished storytelling is still evident.
The only criticism is that the final scene (set on a kibbutz in 1956) doesn’t make much sense without any historical context.
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