White Ribbon
Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the
2010 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film, Michael Haneke’s latest film
The White Ribbon is another accomplished, atmospheric entry into his
Euro-arthouse oeuvre and further evidence of a director at the height of
his cinematic and storytelling powers.
Set in the small German village of Eichwald
and narrated at a distance of many decades by the former schoolmaster,
The White Ribbon takes place in the years immediately preceding
World War I and sees a simple farming community beset by a series of
sudden and violent incidents. As the story unfolds it becomes apparent
that Eichwald’s seemingly God-fearing and well-mannered children are
somehow at the centre of the calamities, though as ever with Haneke
nothing is ever simple. This isn’t Children of the Corn, and in
concordance with the film’s complex themes the director prefers to
reveal his hand one card at a time in the form of subtle hints as to
intent.
‘By retelling these events,’ states the
narrator at the start of the film, ‘perhaps we can come to some
understanding of the events that came later.’ The White
Ribbon is a taut, measured and ultimately disturbing film, in which
stellar cinematography and unsettling performances combine to produce a
mystery possessed of real dread.
Bonus Features
Cannes Film Festival 2009 (16 mins)
Making Of The White Ribbon (15 mins)
Michael Haneke: My Life (25 mins)
