Films du Losange/Sony Pictures Classics
The black-and-white look of "The White Ribbon" calls to mind the films of Carl Dreyer and Ingmar Bergman.
A tale of "strange events" set in a small German village on the eve of the First World War, "The White Ribbon" — a nominee for this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film — is a typically engrossing mystery — or should that be anti-mystery? — from Austrian writer-director Michael Haneke.
A divisive figure, Haneke, according to enthusiasts, is a brave artist whose work acknowledges that life offers no answers about its purpose or destination. Or, according to his detractors, he's a smug provocateur who confuses murkiness with significance.
Films du Losange/Sony Pictures Classics
The black-and-white look of "The White Ribbon" calls to mind the films of Carl Dreyer and Ingmar Bergman.
Set in a Northern German village before World War I during the decline of the Austro-Hungarian empire, depicts the emergence of national socialism.
Rating: R for some disturbing content involving violence and sexuality
Length: 144 minutes
Released: December 30, 2009 NY/LA
Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Susanne Lothar, Burghart Klaussner, Marisa Growaldt, Josef Bierbichler
Director: Michael Haneke
Writer: Michael Haneke
What is clear is that Haneke enjoys frustrating viewers by withholding the solutions to the puzzles painstakingly established by his sometimes-complex plots. In perhaps his most famous film, 2005's "Caché," a Paris couple becomes terrified when an unknown person begins sending them surveillance videotapes of their activities and disturbing children's drawings. Even after a bloody plot twist, the identity of the couple's tormentor or tormentors is never established.
"The White Ribbon" begins with the reminiscing voice of an elderly narrator, who later is identified as the story's young teacher (Christian Friedel), who may be the closest thing the movie has to a "hero." "I don't know if the story I want to tell you is entirely true," warns the narrator, in a characteristic Haneke ploy. He adds that his tale "could perhaps clarify some things that happened in this country," a suggestion that the activities here — the fearmongering, the denunciations, the violence against children — represent the roots of National Socialism. (In one scene, a woman tells her husband she's leaving the village because she doesn't want her children "dominated by malice, envy, apathy and brutality.")
Leisurely paced yet tense, and suffused with an aura of menace, "The White Ribbon" takes its time to acquaint viewers with the villagers and the social and class structure they inhabit. At the top is the land-owning baron (Ulrich Tukur), who employs most of the village for "daily harvesting chores." Other residents (the acting is superb) include a sinister doctor, a sad midwife, a strict pastor, numerous children — their blond hair and deceptively placid personalities may remind viewers of "Village of the Damned" — and the bespectacled teacher, whose courtship of a shy young nanny (Leonie Benesch) brings something new to the Haneke repertoire: charm. Also charming — even though his key scene is somewhat harrowing -- is a little boy who responds to the concept of death with stubborn disbelief: "One can't fight it? It has to happen?"
In addition to its Foreign Language Film nod, "The White Ribbon" earned an Oscar nomination for Cinematography. The film is in black-and-white, which I generally prefer to color; here, the look is intended to suggest the classic moralist movies of Scandinavian directors Carl Dreyer and Ingmar Bergman, Haneke's biggest influences for this project. However, "The White Ribbon" — white, according to the film, is "the color of innocence" — is not as attractive as it ought to be, with many shots washed with thematically appropriate but underlit shades of gray. This is because the film was shot in color that was altered to black-and-white during post-production, a process that results in a less-pleasing image.
"The White Ribbon" is playing exclusively at Malco's Ridgeway Four.
— John Beifuss, 529-2394
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