The White Ribbon
2009
Directed by Michael Haneke
I didn't realize that we would be diving into Michael Haneke's work to this extent, but I'm glad we are. Even if I haven't always liked the result, he's a director with remarkable range, and each of his movies has been unique from the others. If I wasn't striving for 100% completion of the List, I would only have associated him with Funny Games. What a fool I would have been!
The story is set in Eichwald, a fictional German town that is hovering on the brink of World War I. The town is pretty much ruled by the pastor, the doctor, and the baron, each of whom inflict their own brand of evil on the townspeople. Terrible, unexplained things begin to happen in town. This actually sounds like a summary for the M. Night Shyamalan, but I promise it's better than that.
So of course patriarchal oppression gets me down, but this film goes even deeper than that, to the very heart of how Nazism can take over a group of people. Sort of like that scene in Lord of Rings when the orcs are being born from the mud.
It's definitely my favorite Haneke film so far, although the more I think about Amour, the more I like it.
RATING: ****-
Interesting Facts:
More than 7000 children were interviewed during the six month long casting period.
The scenes were altered in post production to be black and white.
The scenes were altered in post production to be black and white.
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