The White Ribbon

Rating: 10/10 (13 September 2012)

Haneke returns to form after his very good, but unnecessary, remake of his own Funny Games. The White Ribbon focuses on a small village where mysterious things are happening. Not supernatural things, just weird and dangerous things. This is the kind of town where a "tragedy" is someone slicing up the Baron's cabbages. On many levels this is an exploration of inexplicable hate, the kind that often surfaces during childhood. There is no real reason for it, other than the child's view of injustice. A lot is left to the viewer, is this a single campaign of terror and hate? Or separate incidents aiding a myth? The perfect cinematography creates a peculiar, yet welcome, dream like fantasy world. It feels like a paranoid fairytale or Gothic fable, but always grounded in reality. It's a marvelous achievement and the perfect way to end 2009.