The White Ribbon

Director: Michael Haneke
Cast: Christian Friedel, Rainer Block, Ulrich Tukur and Burghart Klaubner
DVD release: 23 September 2010
Rated: MA 15+

Welcome to the dark world of Micheal Haneke. Fans of those angst ridden Swedish fables of the late Ingmar Bergman will find much to admire in this finely crafted and memorable period drama. Photographed in austere black and white, the film uses superb classical compositions throughout with an authentic evocation of place and period. Despite the measured tempo, it holds interest for 145 minutes. The stark story of sin, punishment and death affecting the children in a remote German village is set immediately before the First World War. The town’s dour men feature as being brutal and angry, especially their nightmarish pastor (Burghart Klaubner) resembling Gunnar Bjornstrand from Bergman’s Winter Light.

Something appears seriously amiss in the God-fearing authoritarian society of the small village. The doctor (Rainer Block) is injured when his horse stumbles over a trip wire. A farmer’s wife is killed falling through rotten flooring, a cabbage crop is ruined by a vandal, the pastor’s pet bird is mutilated by scissors, a suicide occurs, the baron’s son is found badly beaten and the baron’s barn burnt; and so it goes on. The story is related by the village schoolteacher (the voice of Ernst Jacobi) reflecting on the events years later. He warns there are questions unanswered, and that’s indeed the case. Who is guilty of the these disturbing incidents, if it is one person? Could the town’s children be involved? They eerily appear to be connected with the happenings yet have a disarming group geniality, or are they really Children of the Damned?

The schoolteacher (playing him as a young man Christian Friedel) who’s busy romancing the baron’s governess Eva (Leonie Benesch) never quite comes to grips with the mysteries happening around him. The film suggests that the harsh punishments and repression inflicted on the young of the village, especially by the sadistic pastor for their minor transgressions, has the effect of brutalizing them; perhaps allowing in later years (when they’re adults) the easy acceptance of the Nazi regime. The sins of the fathers have far-reaching effects on these children.

Drawing fine performances from his cast, Haneke polishes the visuals like a gem and provides a film of outstanding dramatic quality that’s not easily forgotten. Atypically, Haneke hides the violence from his audience behind closed doors such as the punishment of the children, thus building tension and letting us imagine the worst. Right at the beginning, the narration makes it clear all may not be true and much unexplained. The voice-over also continually advises the audience worse is to come, so you’re never off the hook. The customs and formalities of the time are neatly conveyed, darkening interiors contrasted with bright sunlit pastoral scenes.

Outstanding scenes include a doctor dismissing his long serving mistress in a harrowing exchange of Peter Weiss overtones; the grim pastor disciplining his children, his little boy offering his pet bird to his dour father and the daughter discussing death with her young brother; the Baron (Ulrich Tukur) hearing about his wife’s infidelity at the dining table; and the teacher asking Eva’s father for her hand in marriage. Among the visually impressive scenes are a harvest, a torch-lit search for a missing boy with shades of Frankenstein, a sequence by a river, and the various views of the village at different seasons.

Just a wisp of ironic humour is introduced when a policeman, questioning one of the children, growls “we have ways of making you talk”. A hint of the future.

John Bale