Disturbing

Rating: 7/10 (8 October 2019)

Honestly, if you just want a vision of pre-war rural Germany then The White Ribbon is an idyll, very picturesque indeed. Beyond that, I'm not sure what the filmmaker was aiming for. My take was that as a result of the entrenched disciplinarian conceit of an older generation, with perversion as well as cruelty, some sort revenge by a younger vigilante is randomly attached to the most severe and guilty of this isolated community. Or perhaps, presciently perceiving the coming horrors of war, someone thus disturbed has protested with inspired acts of terrible cruelty. The movie is beautifully filmed, and the choice of black and white was inspired in that regard, but, alas, it's slow moving and the story is dark and strange and although a kind of resolution is achieved, I'd venture, for most, it will not be enough. Mind you, as a subtle warning against a type of strict conservatism of the past that we may at times confuse with a cleaner, more innocent time, well, in this regard the filmmaker may certainly have made a brilliant point.