SYNOPSIS: On the eve of World War I, strange accidents in a small Protestant village in Northern Germany involve the children and teenagers of a choir run by the school teacher and their families.  The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery as these events gradually take on the character of a punishment ritual.

EDITORIAL REVIEW:  The White Ribbon was nominated for two 2010 Oscars®; Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography.  Certainly deserving of both, but neither was awarded to The White Ribbon.  This is one of those moments you get when you know in your heart that this should have won at least Best Foreign Language Film, and for the life of you, you can't remember which movie actually did end up winning the Oscar®. 

This movie will haunt you for days.  The story takes place in the year leading up to World War I.  A series of, whatever you want to call them: accidents, suicides, mutilations...takes place in this small village seemingly ruled by a wealthy landowner.  These "occurrences" at first appear to be like some sort of revenge plot against the Baron and anyone associated with his family.  The Doctor (Rainer Bock) breaks his arm after falling off his horse, which tripped over a wire strung between two trees. Not long after, someone abducts the eldest son of the Baron; he isn't found until the next morning, at which point it's discovered that he had been bound and beaten with a cane.  A barn owned by the Pastor (Burghart Klaußner) is burned to the ground.  The mentally challenged son of the Midwife (Susanne Lothar) is viciously attacked and almost blinded.  Why is all of this happening?  Are they acts of revenge?  Are they punishments for the sin of weakness?  Are they the beginnings of war, intolerance, and terrorism?

The setting is a German farming community, which has maintained stability by not upsetting the "natural order"; it was expected that the Baron would own the land, the men would have control over their women and children, and the peasants would not have the same rights as their superiors.  The Pastor, for example, raises his children not to love God so much as fear Him, and he continuously instills the idea that they must feel guilty for everything that they do.  So as to remind them of the path of righteousness from which they have strayed, he ties a white ribbon onto their arms - a symbol of purity (and of course tie his oldest son, Martin's (Leonard Proxauf) hands to the bed at night to ensure he doesn't "abuse himself").  As a side bar, Leonard Proxauf does a remarkable job as Martin, and if you get the Blu-ray version, you're privy to some behind the scenes footage of his audition.

But in spite of outward appearances, purity is not something to be found behind closed doors.  The Doctor, so kind and caring with his patients, grossly mistreats the Midwife and sexually abuses his daughter on a regular basis.  The Baron is a demanding man who does what he wishes with no regard for anyone else, including his own workers.  But was he, in fact, responsible for the death of a local woman?  Or was it an accident?  The woman's husband, while grieving, knows that he can't prove it either way.  The woman's son, on the other hand, is convinced of the Baron's guilt.  This leads to an act of retribution that generates even more hostility amongst the villagers.  By then, memories of the previous incidents rise to the surface.  Suspicion spreads.  Distrust builds.  People suffer.

All this is told from the point of view of the Schoolteacher, who narrates as an old man (Ernst Jacobi) and is seen as a young man (Christian Friedel).  Even though he courts a shy young woman named Eva (Leonie Benesch), he's not a participant so much as an observer, and he begins the film with a direct statement: "I don't know if the story I want to tell you is entirely true.  Some of it I only know by hearsay.  After so many years, a lot of it is still obscure and many questions remain unanswered."

Indeed, the film plays not as an intimate portrait but as an examination of the facts - cold, hard, and, to the best of its ability, honest.  We see into the lives of the villagers, and yet we're emotionally and physically kept at a distance, which probably accounts for the film's beautiful yet haunting black and white photography.  It would also account for specific shots that, in the hands of a different director, would reveal everything in graphic detail.

Consider the scene in which the Pastor lashes his children as punishment for lying and disobedience; rather than actually show the act and its emotional aftermath, Director Michael Haneke films the entire scene from outside the room with the door closed, and he ends it before the act is finished.  Also consider a long shot of a coffin being wheeled out of the village on its way to the cemetery; the camera observes it from a far away location, never once cutting to the faces of the mourners flocking behind the carriage.  This is not the kind of film that gives closure. It doesn't even pretend that such a thing exists.

The real genius of this film, however, is that the intricate subtexts are in service of a relatively simple story.  We may not have all the answers, but at the same time, the goal is not to be confusing; the goal is to present the facts as accurately as possible, at which point we come to our own conclusions.  If there are any to come to.  Maybe we're being told that, when a repressive way of life is preferred for the sake of maintaining the status quo, a different and more evil form of repression will eventually surface.  It could be a totalitarian government.  It could be religious extremism.  It could even be genocide.  Who knows?  Anything is possible.  The White Ribbon is a superb film - carefully paced and cleverly structured, mysterious but not gimmicky, subtle but not lacking substance.

The clip we have chosen does not do this film justice.  We'll upload the trailer shortly.

VIEW MULTIMEDIA:

POPULARITY:
RATING:
FORMAT:   (learn more about region coding)
* This DVD will play in North America only.  This DVD should play in most players outside of North America as well, but it's not guaranteed. This DVD will play in any computer DVD-Rom.  This is NOT a DVD-R.

STARRING: Leonard Proxauf, Christian Friedel, Leonie Benesch.
DIRECTOR: Michael Haneke.
LENGTH: 144 minutes.
LANGUAGE: German, with OPTIONAL ENGLISH SUBTITLES.
SPECIAL FEATURES: 1.85:1 (16:9 Widescreen); 5.1 Stereo; 1 disc; Chapter selection; Trailer; Uncut.
VIEWER DISCRETION: Coarse language, violence, sexual innuendo.
PICTURE QUALITY: Excellent picture quality. (what's this mean?)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Germany (2009).
ALSO KNOWN AS: Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (original title).
DATE ADDED TO OUR LIBRARY:  July 1, 2010.

Blu-ray version also available HERE.