August 10, 2010

A look at The White Ribbon (M)...

TWELVE months before the start of the First World War, a chain of horrific events unfold in a small German rural village.
The local doctor (Rainer Bock) is thrown from his horse and badly injured after his mount trips on a wire stretched across a road, a farmer’s wife is killed in what appears to be a work accident and her son holds the baron (Ulrich Tukur) responsible.
Still, the village’s orderliness continues to be disrupted. A barn is burnt down, an intellectually disabled child is bashed and the pet bird of the Lutheran pastor (Burghart Klaussner) is impaled upon a pair of scissors.
Tension in the village escalates. There’s not only mystery but also malice abroad. Who is responsible for these ongoing accidents, dramas and even fatalities?
Director Michael Haneke’s stark black and white imagery outlines for us an almost feudal world, one of class bullying, authoritarianism and resentment.
The women, even the village midwife, are clearly second-class citizens while the children are required to unswervingly obey and follow the lead of their elders.
Haneke, director of French mystery Hidden, is a master of creating intrigue and subterfuge. So much so that as with Hidden, I will have to see The White Ribbon a second time to catch up with all its subtle nuances.
Incidentally, The White Ribbon was Germany‘s entry in this year’s Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. That particular Oscar went to the Argentinian movie The Secret In Their Eyes, but having seen all three I firmly believe the south American film should have run third to The White Ribbon and France’s A Prophet.

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