The White Ribbon [Blu-ray]

"The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children." - Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice"
Here are some critical observations about this award-winning film that might help you decide whether or not it is worth watching:
1) It is based on a story about a pre-WW I German village coming to grips with some very troubling intergenerational issues centered on authority as seen in the roles of parent, husbands, teacher, pastor, and overlord. In this paternalistic society, women and children count only as chattels or pawns to be moved around at the whim of overbearing, domineering males;
2) The film captures the everyday life in this small Lutheran hamlet where the hierarchy of authority starts at the top with the baron and his manor and goes all the way down to the bottom to the lowliest of children, the 'retarded' son of the midwife who co-habits with the local doctor. On the surface, the viewer is treated to a thin veneer of respect and civility between the various members of this conservative, hidebound community;
3) Any attempts at caring for one another or expressing love are quickly suppressed by a sense of duty and fear of stepping outside the bounds of authority;
4) What emerges in the story is an undercurrent of rebellion that gnaws away at the fabric of this society. The film is loaded with misadventure and strange happenings that nobody in the village can put a finger on because they live within a social system that pretends that all evil comes from a devil outside rather than an evil within;
5) There is a huge irony at work in this film, where the year is 1913 and the locals are trying desperately to ride these little storms through to better days when on the horizon looms an even bigger catastrophe that threatens to totally destroy their way of life;
6) The voice of truth in this story is a young teacher who seeks to get to the bottom of what is plaguing the villagers but is constantly stonewalled by those who have been cruelly beaten down or compromised by what they've done in the past;
7) The film's black-and-white effects are ideally suited for this tale. The filmmaker wants us to see this pretentiously, self-righteous society (the presence of the white ribbon in the pastor's home) succumb to the forces of evil. It will take a war to possibly eliminate the scourge of fascist behavior and give the next generation a chance to start anew, but don't hold your breath. This town has a way of burying its deep, dark secrets so that they hang around like a distant and ugly memory that keeps the people in check;
8) There is a lot that is Freudian in this cleverly-designed allegory about the German national conscience and its historical connection with religion, the state, the family and the land. You might almost think you were watching a medieval morality play with the way people's actions unwittingly declare the depths of a collective tortured existence.

Writer and directed by Michael Haneke ('Funny Games', `The Piano Teacher'), `The White Ribbon' takes place in a small northern Germany village in the year before Austria-Hungary declare war on Serbia provoking World War I. Haneke's direction is magically bleak, shot in a rich black and white with an eerie and powerful feel. (Christian Berger is the cinematographer).

Narrated by the schoolteacher (as an older man recalling the story as in a fable) the film begins with an innocent look at the village people and its structure, notably the feared Baron who provides most of the work for the villagers, the omnipotent town doctor and the self-righteous town's pastor. All three come to represent a respected but feared presence from all, especially the children. A series of cruel and horrifically mean-spirited offenses occur over the year, beginning with the doctor and his horse as they catch a hidden wire while riding and are thrown to the ground. Speculation rises as the villagers try to unearth the culprit. More unthinkable and strange happenings occur, some involving children, sending the village into a sinister atmosphere of distrust and accusation. The pastor tries to remedy his children's behavior by forcing them to wear white ribbons on their arms - a false sign of purity and innocence. At the same time, the pastor is relentless in caning his children behind closed doors. That's one of the marvels of the film, in that, other than the initial horse tragedy, none of the atrocities are directly shown on screen. Both adults and children fall prey to some of these cruel and horrific events. Allegedly, adults towards children and children towards adults.

The cinematography is remarkable as high contrast gives the film a ghostly, foreboding feel and look. Haneke never comes straight forward with answers, but insinuates most of the events, giving the story an almost Hitchcockian feel. Shocking without being graphic, `The White Ribbon' shows the ugly underbelly of a small town that tries to keep its appearances while deteriorating inside. It feels like a true classic.

This artfully filmed story of life in a German village before the first world war presents a realistic picture of how well meaning parents raised their children. Discipline and obedience were all important. Shaming and harsh punishments were meted out for any failure to obey. The children in the story (filmed in black and white) walk about in a gang of seemingly well-behaved little robots.

Terrible things are happening in this village of obedient children and strict parents. The doctor is returning from his daily horseback ride when his horse trips and falls over a wire strung between trees. Someone has done this deliberately. But who? A mentally challenged child is found tied upside down on a tree, badly beaten. Another child is beaten in the same way.

The young man who is the school teacher begins to suspect the children. Their revenge smacks of punishment. He confronts two of the children in their home and is getting close to forming a suspicion in his mind. However, the respectable father intervenes and throws him out of his house. That ends any investigation.

The voice-over is the aged voice of the school teacher, now an old man looking back on these sinister events. What happened, he says, must have something to do with what followed in German history.

I found the film remarkable in many ways: beautifully filmed, well acted (how did they find an actor to play the mentally challenged child?) and thought provoking. What did German child rearing have to do with the events which followed, I had to wonder.
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