Paul Verhoeven's Black Book washes away the Showgirls stink. He had to leave Hollywood to make an important, beautifully directed, enthralling film. One of my favorite films is Verhoeven's 1983 The Fourth Man. Then, of course, there are his Hollywood films Total Recall and Basic Instinct. I even liked Starship Troopers. But Showgirls damaged everyone's career who was involved: Verhoeven as director, Mighty Joe Eszterhas as lauded screenwriter, and all the performers. Poor Elizabeth Berkley had to go to the New York stage to jump start a career.

Everyone in Verhoeven's World War ll epic - and at 2 hours 25 minutes, it's a sweeping epic – is lying, conniving, double-crossing and triple-crossing. And then there are the Nazis.

It is 1944 and Germany occupies Holland. A young singer from a wealthy Jewish family, Rachel (Carice van Houten), is hiding from the Nazis. With well placed contacts, Rachel and her family pay their way out of Holland. On the river, the Gestapo finds them and everyone, except Rachel, is executed.

Rachel's family has powerful connections and she is soon part of a resistance group led by Kuipers (Derek de Lint). Taking a job at Kuipers' headquarters, a soup kitchen, Rachel is asked to be a decoy transporting weapons. On a train, she meets a handsome SS officer, Muntze (Sebastian Koch). Believing Rachel is non-Jewish - she has dyed her black hair blond - Muntze flirts with her.

When told of Muntze's interest in Rachel, Kuipers asks her to see him again and sleep with him. With a convenient ruse, Rachel goes to SS headquarters and is given a job. She quickly begins an affair with Muntze – who is no dummy.

Now working alongside another Nazi "sympathizer," fun-loving Ronnie (Halina Reijn), who is sleeping with the enemy as well, Rachel recognizes her immediate boss as none other than the man who led the sneak attack on the boat and was responsible for the murder of her family. Franken (Waldemar Kopus) is corrupt and, since the war is ending, looking out for his own interests. As Rachel begins to fall in love with the virile, dashing Muntze, she finds out that there are Dutch-Nazi alliances all around her.

Everyone in this film is willing to lie, betray, murder, and steal.

The liberation of Holland brings out the worst in people and Rachel, along with other perceived co-conspirators, is brutalized. She does narrowly escape with Muntze.

Black Book is an enthralling adventure, intelligently written and beautifully directed. Verhoeven's keen sensuality is well handled by van Houten and the fascinating Koch. The resistance fighters are all strong characters. Verhoeven, who co-wrote the screenplay with Gerard Soeteman, weaves a story rife with intrigue without confusing or blurring the intentions of the players – who are all traitors to something ideological, philosophical, financial or fanciful. We see how, and why, each deceit is played out. Interestingly, Muntze is the only character without a double-or-triple cross agenda.

So far, yes, it's only May, but I only have two movies on my working tally of 2007 Best Films List: 300 and Black Book.

(We at zboneman.com are excited to welcome the prolific and multi-talented writer Victoria Alexander to our staff. Critic for http://www.filmsinreview.com/ and pundit and humorist responsible for the candid and fearlessly funny "The Devil's Hammer," her column appears every Monday on http://fromthebalcony.com. Start off your week with a good hard laugh. It's a thrill to have her on board. Victoria Alexander answers every email and can be contacted directly at .)