ABC de Natalie

M is for Movies

After many recommendations, and a coupon to cancel out late charges(which I didn't even have) I rented Das weiße band aka The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke (2009). Set in a small village in Germany, we are given the historical account of strange occurrences that lead to unrest in the village just as Germany was about to open conflict known as WWI.

Haneke was quoted as saying the film is about "the origin of every type of terrorism, be it of political or religious nature."

I assume after watching the film that the origin he is referring to is Repression. The Baron owes the land which most of the villagers must farm for a living, the Priest reigns rights & wrongs over the congregation and his family, the children follow a leader, the teacher and his fiancee must wait a year to get married (by order of his father-in-law-to-be) ,and the Priest's son internalizes his sins only to exude an anxiety that is spotted by his father and corrected by tying his hands to the side of the bed each night .... so many examples of repression.

Innocence is expected of the youth in the village, from their corrupted elders who continually take that innocence away.

The film is heavy with anxiety brought on by the fore-shadowing narration and by the position Haneke puts us in as an audience, the jury, where the guilty are innocent and the innocent are guilty. But we never come to a final verdict we are just happy the film is over.

* I had to include photos of the red carpet opening of the film at Cannes 2009, because I couldn't get over the juxtaposed transformation of the young actors, kids just aren't how they used to be!