Just a brief note to recommend with enthusiasm the new film by Michael Haneke, “The White Ribbon”: Doing it justice would require an extended essay rather than a mere blog post. It suffices to say that is probably the best movie we have seen since the same German director astonished the world with “Hidden”.
In a reflexion over his country’s history and the evolution leading to the apparition of the Nazi movement through the life in a small rural community displayed in impressive detail; Haneke keeps on asking all the important questions, while leaving the answers in the air. His philosophical approach gives his films a vitality and intelligence unseen in today’s cinema. The way through which, without resorting to manipulation of any kind –the history is told through the narration of the village’s teacher; devoid of soundtrack, light tricks, etc.- and with a masterful black and white cinematography, Haneke introduce us with slow but assured pace in the secret world of each character -carefully selecting what he shows and what he doesn’t – serves to unveil a world regulated and repressed to asphyxiating levels by class structure; religious intolerance; ignorance and obscurantism of a society that promotes a strong discipline a flawless and formal appearance, but whose heavy dependence on rules drives it to rot to the bone.
Deservedly winner of the Palm D’Or at Cannes; the beauty of every frame, composed in thoughtful detail, and the abundance of ideas exposed in “The White Ribbon” will surely shape it as one of the classics the noughties will be remembered for.
I have to watch it again.