Review: THE WHITE RIBBON

Michael Haneke’s disturbing new film THE WHITE RIBBON is, on its surface, about how a group of villagers respond to a series of suspicious accidents in their German town in the days leading up to World War I. However, anyone familiar with Haneke’s earlier films (CACHE, THE PIANO PLAYER) should know that the devil is in the details and that what’s on the surface is only one layer of Haneke’s seductive, hypnotic masterpiece. A cold and somber affair with no musical score, THE WHITE RIBBON doesn’t initially grab the viewer but instead slowly pulls them in and while Haneke’s direction is controlled and precise, his story is filled with secrets and conspiracies that ultimately provide more questions than answers. It’s a tribute to Haneke’s abilities as a storyteller that THE WHITE RIBBON is so absorbing and satisfying even while its mysteries go apparently unsolved.

Populated by a large cast of children and adults, the setting of THE WHITE RIBBON is the fictitious town of Eichwald, an insulated North German village presided over by three patriarchs: the wealthy land baron, the severe Protestant pastor, and the local doctor. The story jumps from household to household and is narrated in flashback by a young schoolteacher who explains that life in Eichwald was uneventful until a series of unexplained accidents began to occur. The doctor is badly injured when his horse runs into a trip wire. A peasant laborer is killed when she falls through a barn door. The baron’s young son is strung up and beaten. A barn is set ablaze. A Down’s syndrome child is blinded. Something sinister is in the air, but what is it and who is causing these offences? The children of the village seem to be the key since they are always around when the tragedies occur but perhaps that just makes them the easiest to blame (the film is subtitled “A German Children’s Story”). The story’s focus isn’t so much on the criminal acts themselves as the cruelty of so many of its characters.  The stern minister cruelly punishes his own children both physically and psychologically for minor infractions. A young man wipes out the baron’s cabbage patch with a sickle because he blames the baron for his mother’s accidental death with devastating results. The married doctor who callously tells his secretary/lover “You’re ugly, flabby, messy and have bad breath” may or may not have an unhealthy relationship with his own teenage daughter. There’s a sweet courtship between the teacher and the Baron’s shy teenage nanny that slightly lightens the mood but the two and a half hour THE WHITE RIBBON is a mostly grim experience. Director Haneke’s develops a Lynchian sense of dread and anxiety that builds and gets under the viewer’s skin. Clues are planted, then more details appear that refute those leads. To say THE WHITE RIBBON is not a film of easy answers is an understatement. There is no obvious resolution and it’s that enigma that makes it so powerful.

THE WHITE RIBBON works with uniformly excellent acting, top-notch period art direction and costume design and stunning deep-focus, contrasty black and white cinematography. Haneke has asserted in interviews that THE WHITE RIBBON is about the roots of evil and he believes that the disciplinary and sexually repressive environment of Germany at this time (especially among the Protestants), laid the groundwork for Fascism and the children presented in his film are in fact the future nazis and claims that THE WHITE RIBBON is a movie against all forms of extremism. Winner of the Palme d’Or for best film at Cannes, the Golden Globe for best foreign film, and on track to win the foreign language Oscar as well, the unnerving THE WHITE RIBBON is the type of unique film that will baffle and inspire debate among generations of adventurous film fans for years to come.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 stars