The White Ribbon, 2009

The White Ribbon is enigmatic director Michael Haneke's latest film, and like his other film 'Cache', he refuses to submit to the convention of resolving a film by its end. Like Cache, you'll have an idea to the identities of the perpetrators but no clue as to the rationale, and it will once again make you question human nature. The White Ribbon is about a quaint German town terrorized by acts of violence which seem random to an outside observer (the schoolteacher) but stir up hidden truths in the affected. You get the feeling that they know why things are happening to them, but everything is dark and murky. The cinematography adds to this ambience; it is black and white, but harsh and crisp, the tonality being more reminiscent of 'The Elephant Man' than 'Manhattan' or 'Casablanca'. At the end, the film has taken you somewhere you didn't want to go. In your investigation of the 'incidents', you've uncovered more secrets and lies. Indeed, the superficial conduct of the town is a sick and dogged game that everyone plays because they have to, and the incidents that happen are an outlet for the true nature of the town. It is longer than usual films at 2 and 1/2 hours, but once the tension is ratcheted up at the beginning, it never lets up (not even by the end). No doubt many theories will pop up by the time of the films release, but, like his previous films, none of them will have sufficient evidence to ring true.

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