Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" (Das Weisse Band) impressed critics last year (it won the Palm d'Or at Cannes) but failed to get much of a U.S. audience. I know it's shocking: black and white German dramas are not hot box office commodities here. Who knew?
It's a damn shame because "The White Ribbon" is an eerily effective study of oppression, repression, and violence. Taking place in a pre-WWI German village, the film presents an insular culture built on secrets, shame and abuse. The three pillars of the community, the pastor, the doctor, and the baron dictate the goings on in their small society. All three are corrupt or abusive in different ways, and the film masterfully stokes audience's resentment for these "respectable" monsters.
Things start to get strange when acts of sabotage and violence begin to occur around the village. To go into detail about them would spoil the shocking effect of the unfolding narrative. Suffice it to say Haneke manages to build a stifling atmosphere of paranoia and moral confusion.
While in many respects "The White Ribbon" resembles a mystery, one shouldn't approach it with the expectation of a tidy "the Butler did it!" kind of resolution. This is a story about uncertainty both physical and metaphysical. It is also a fantastic film that will stay with you long after the credits have rolled.
I've never heard of this film before, but it looks really well done. While I'm not the biggest fan of black and white movies, I think that this one should be able to keep me awake.
ReplyDeleteThanks for putting this up.
This looks really interesting. I love foreign films, I think it's fun to see what different cultures make. I'm excited that it's in black and white too, there is such a classy nostalgia to black and white and it's good to see it in a more recent film. It's very artistic and shouldn't be cast off as something irrelevant from the past.
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