The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band) (2009)

The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band) (2009)

by Michael Haneke

Review and Analysis by Carl Roberson Faust

The White Ribbon (Das Weisse Band) is a 2009 German language film from critically acclaimed Austrian filmmaker, Michael Haneke. Objectively, this film is a functional masterpiece; while most films are impeded by child performances, the child actors in The White Ribbon are exemplary and extremely convincing. The performances of every actor and child shows a dynamic range of emotion that contributes to the power and weight of the film. Despite this, Haneke goes to great lengths to distance the audience from the actors on screen. The very first line of voice-over dialogue we hear is, "I don't know if the story that I want to tell you reflects the truth in every detail. Much of it I only know by hearsay, and a lot of it remains obscure to me even today..." The narrator is not seen as omniscient, but rather humble and unopinionated. His purpose as the narrator is not to muddy the plot with beliefs or opinions but to provide the audience with the information he knows as simply as he can. During an interview with Timeout magazine, Haneke stated, "The use of black and white is similar - to create a distance from a false naturalism that suggests we know exactly what happened and we're going to show it to you." In short, The White Ribbon is a visual masterpiece littered with beautiful cinematography, unbelievable performances, and a captivating story that fascinates the viewer.

The film depicts the life of a small, fictional German village by the name of Eichwald in the year preceding the first World War. A series of unexplainable events occur; a doctor's horse is tripped on wire riding home, a newborn's window is left open resulting in sickness, the son of the baron is kidnapped and tortured, a farmer's wife is killed from falling through rotting floorboards, a nurse's disabled son is badly beaten nearly to blindness, and so on. No culprit is ever found for these crimes, and it seems as though they were all simply strange coincidences. However, on one's second-or-third viewing, it becomes clear that the suspicious behavior of the children is reason to suspect their guilt. When the narrator confronts the young

Martin, after witnessing him precariously walking across the railing of a suspended bridge, Martin states, "I gave God a chance to kill me. He didn't do it. So he's pleased with me... he doesn't want me to die." Martin does not respond when asked why God would want him to die. This notably shifty behavior is present in the children throughout the film's length. Even at the beginning, when the children of the village flock to the doctor's daughter, Klara, just a few hours after the doctor's tragic accident, the narrator notes, "If I recall correctly, it seemed odd to me that the kids, instead of scampering after school to their homes, headed together to the exit of the village." Haneke lingers on the shot of the boys and girls walking together for a very long time, allowing the unease to settle on the audience. And that is, perhaps, the greatest noun to describe this film - unease. The viewer can sense the tension in every scene and share the emotions of every traumatized character in this mysterious tragedy, but payoff does not arrive until the very end, with the outbreak of World War I. The announcement of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand comes as kind of a relief, a fitting resolution to a story that has not ended. In fact, this story is just a prologue. The events in The White Ribbon only set the stage for the world that will be enveloped by the first and second Great Wars. As some chaotic force causes unexplainable events, upsetting the balance of the small village, neighbors turn on neighbors, family orders are disturbed, and the stability of the community is brought down by the omnipresent fear and distrust. This film reveals the back story to the Age of Anxiety. There are countless examples of how the society of this village is destabilized and made vulnerable to the war reparations the German country would be forced to pay in future years; a farmer's son destroys the Baron's supply of cabbages out of spite, the Baroness flees to Italy with her child out of fear, the police interrogate an innocent teenage girl about the strange occurrences, a barn catches fire and the fire department is unable to save it, and a man hangs himself in his tool shed out of grief for his starving family. Rest assured, there are dozens of other examples of the impact anxiety has on the community, all of which are executed perfectly, but subtly. It is very important to give this film multiple viewings, so as to decipher and appreciate the covert hints at the state of mind pre- Age of Anxiety. The White Ribbon from Michael Haneke is, to repeat, a true masterpiece, and should be required viewing to all cinematography and history buffs interested in foreign film.