The White Ribbon

Rating: 5/10 (2 April 2015)

Directed by Michael Haneke (Funny Games (both versions), Hidden (Caché), Amour), this German/Italian/Polish film was listed in the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book, it was rated well by critics, and I was hoping it would be worthy of recommendations. Basically in 1913, fifteen years before the breakout of the First World War, in the small Protestant village of Eichwald, Germany, a series of mysterious and unfortunate incidents are taking place. These occurrences include rider is thrown from their horse after it tripped on a wire, rotted planks cause a woman to fall to her death, the son of The Baron (Ulrich Tukur) is hung upside down in a mill, parents of village children are slapping and bullying their own offspring, a man is being cruel to his long-suffering lover, another man sexually abuses his own daughter, and many people disappearing. The School Teacher (Christian Friedel), who is immature and inexperienced, and is courting a nanny of the Baron's household, is narrating the story as an Old Man (Ernst Jacobi) and investigating the cause and connection of these accidents and crimes. There are pubescent children in the village with guilty consciences, The Pastor (Burghart Klaußner), he tries to reassure them, and gets them to wear a white ribbon, as a sign of the innocence and purity, but these children may in fact be the cause and at the heart of these strange circumstances, and it can only end badly for many characters. Also starring Leonie Benesch as Eva, Ursina Lardi as Marie-Louise, The Baroness, Fion Mutert as Sigi, Michael Kranz as The Tutor, Steffi Kühnert as Anna, The Pastor's Wife and Maria-Victoria Dragus as Klara. With having to read subtitles as well I did get very confused with this film, I did see the strange things happening and characters getting suspicious and paranoid, but I'm not sure I can fully agree with critics giving the film four stars out of five, or it being in the 1001 Movies book, however, it is not a bad film, it was interesting in parts, so overall it's an alright period mystery drama. It was nominated the Oscars for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film of the Year, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Worth watching, in my opinion!