ongoing

 Director Paul Verhoeven may go down in history as the director of an "Ishtar"-like disaster, "Showgirls." Which would be a shame because  "Black Book," which he co-wrote and directed, is one of the most powerful films we've seen in a while. It's set at the end of World War II, where Germany may know it's about to lose, but it - or certain greedy officers - are still playing the game for keeps. That game involves a Resistance group that attempts to smuggle Jews to safety via water, only to be foiled each and every time, mowed down by a boatload of SS. The protagoinist is a Jewish singer, Rachel (Carice van Houten, in photo), who is on one of those boats early in the movie, with her family. She escapes; they don't. The rest of the story is a series of gritty, sometimes horrifying adventures. There is a lot of moral ambiguity, a lot of duplicity, and we, truly, didn't know who the main villain was until near the end. (No, we won't reveal any spoilers here.) Verhoeven had been working on this script for 15 years with co-writer Gerard Soeteman, and he was lured back to his native Netherlands to finally get this done. They started in the summer of 2005. It was released last year over there, and grossed more than any other Dutch film. It was submitted for Oscar consideration by the Netherlands, but weirdly enough, not nominated. This film runs over two hours, has four different languages, and enough plot twists to scramble your brain. But it is well worth the trip back in time. Somehow, the Nazis - and the horror - never gets stale. We know the story and the scale of evil never fails to sadden and astound. And then when you add in those who are complicit in Hitler's scheme ... you can just shake your head, more than six decades down the road. It doesn't ruin anything to note that this film ends with bombs exploding in the distance, in 1956, just as the Suez Crisis has started. At the West Newton Cinema in West Newton at 8:50 p.m. Tickets: $9.

 1296 Washington St., W. Newton, 617-964-6060, www.westnewtoncinema.com