The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band)

2009
Director: Michael Haneke
Cast: Ulrich Tukur, Susanne Lothar, and Mercedes Jadea Diaz

Plot: Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.

Ominous German Children Dish Out the Punishment
by C. True

I cringe at the idea of movies being carried by children actors. When I like children in movies it is usually based on a great performance by one single child. In The White Ribbon Michael Haneke manages to masterfully direct a cast that is half children with some of the best and most important scenes carried by children that look to be about 5. Not only do the children act well, but Haneke has given them a difficult presence in the film which they capture entirely. They must be children, no precocious Dakota Fanning-esque performances. And yet they deliver characters with an unsettling level of dillusionment on the surface and bitter and cruel rage lurking underneath. And of course children can be unreservedly cruel, and maybe what's so creepy about this movie is that unlike playground bullying these children are pointedly aware of the consequences of their actions and have set out not to oppress an individual but to terrorize a town. Of course this is all just implied in a movie where most major events that propel the story happen off screen. That may sound pretentious or boring but it isn't. You can imagine if you lived in a small town and bizarre tragic "accidents" began occuring you could easily be shaken and intrigued without ever witnessing any of these events first hand. The one shown act of violence happens later in the film when the children are so consumed by hate that rageful impulses begin to be acted upon freely.

This direction of children really highlights Michael Haneke's ability to mold characters but he's really created a beautiful masterpiece that must have crushed all competition in receiving the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year. The movie is so stylistically complete there is a sense of transportation. The story is intriguing to point that I was eagerly anticipating every line of dialogue and no snack or bathroom break would have pulled me away if it meant missing a minute. And although it may sound exceedingly dark from the description above the movie is not overpowering (certainly not for Haneke) and there is even a sweet little romance for our narrator the school teacher. And its a noodle scratcher. Not everything is obvious, but you get the idea that in a film this precise every word in every piece of dialogue has its purpose. Makes you wonder what that Michael Haneke is up to, but then most of his movies do. He doesn't have anything else lined up yet but for me he is a must see director and I hope we can expect many more projects from him.