A Children's Story

Rating: 8/10 (17 November 2009)

The sub-title (A German Children's Story) shows where director Haneke's mind was in the making of this excellent mystery, The White Ribbon. The young schoolteacher hero clearly suspects his class of village children to be the chief suspects in a series of local crimes, although the shocked Pastor makes him swear to silence. The teacher (in old man's voice-over) postulates the popular explanation for the events: that the Doctor and his mistress, in their perverted relationship, themselves caused or perpetrated the crimes. But his own suspicions loom larger in the end, hinting at some unspeakable change occurring in European humanity at the dawn of the 20th century.
Typically, the English-speaking take on this wonderfully evocative monochrome movie is that it hints at the origins of Nazism, but this is a parochial view. The British and Americans themselves have performed unspeakable acts in modern times: for example, the imposition of slavery on generations of Africans, or the cruel suppression of the Kikuyu people in their own land of Kenya, just to name two examples.
This powerful film says something, not about Austria, or Germany, but about the western human condition, with its hypocritical hang-ups about sex, its obsession with books, and perverted male chauvinism. This is a long film, and non German-speakers have to rely on sub-titles (although the German is excellently spoken), but for those with eyes to see, and hearts to feel, it is an important statement. Not to be missed.