A brooding and messy metaphor

Rating: Null/10 (18 December 2009)

"Das weisse Band" is disappointing compared to other German productions I've seen recently and I've become quite a big fan of German cinema. The story in this movie is extremely slow. There's very little tension around the events happening, there's more tension about the impending First World War but even that turns out to be a rather non-event. If you're looking for the political tension that was present in previous German films like "The Lives Of Others" and "Good-Bye Lenin" you won't find it here. There's not a lot to like. The cinematography is quite nice, the whole film is in black & white which extenuates the time and place. A few performances stand out as being quite good but the whole movie is steeped and stewed in metaphor.
The White Ribbon is put on the children who do not behave. I'm thinking it's all about the last 'good' years before Germany entered the First World War and subsequently lost all its power and wealth until the late 20th century.