Das Weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (The White Ribbon) (2009)

*For the sake of brevity, I'm going to leave out actor names in the summary. Go to imdb if you'd like to know.*

While the full title's a bit of a mouthful, Haneke's newest venture The White Ribbon is actually an exquisitely-crafted exploration of the understatement. Over 144 minutes he slowly draws us into the strange happenings of a small rural German town, set right before the outbreak of WWI. The story is narrated through the reminiscence of a local teacher, who remembers a series of apparent accidents that escalated into brutal acts of violence whose perpetrators were unknown. A doctor breaks his collarbone when his horse trips over a thin wire strung between two trees. A working mother falls through the floor of a shaky barn floor and dies on impact. The cabbage field of the town's wealthiest landowner, the Baron, is hacked to shreds. His son is later abducted, whipped, and strung up by his feet.

Awful things keep happening over the course of a year, but no one knows the culprit. The children of the town seem to be presciently knowledgeable of some of these events, and are often seen during the aftermath to offer help to the suffering families. Their ringleaders are Klara and Martin, the eldest offspring of the overly strict pastor, whose strange faith-based punishments seem to be taking their toll on their moral outlook. The teacher observes carefully the actions of his students and other townspeople, while also awkwardly romancing the Baron's shy governess Eva.

This is a very long, very slow movie that somehow manages to be absolutely riveting. I was legitimately transfixed by the carefully planned, stark imagery making its way across the screen as the story unfolded gradually and haltingly. Every shot is composed with a quiet elegance, as Haneke drags out his scenes with stationary cameras, allowing the action to move in and out of the shot, therey generating interest and mystique. The entire film is hauntingly quiet, completely drawing the viewer into the harsh reality of the characters. It's a sparse and ambiguous tale that jumps around a variety of families and locations, sometimes losing itself in its huge amount of characters but never losing the undercurrent of eeriness and intrigue that propels it. Also, it criticizes overzealous religious views: always a good thing.

The performances are fantastic, from Christian Friedel's adorable doofus teacher to Burghart Klaussner's cold-hearted pastor to the cutest kid in the world. The children are all mysteriously off-putting, and their scenes as a group made me squirm a bit (though not as much as several other moments with the adults). The segments featuring the teacher and Eva felt a little out of place for their lightheartedness and general irrelevancy, but they add some levity to the story as well as develop the narrator's personality. I became so involved in the story and characters that each scene became significant and engaging. The White Ribbon is really a meticulous, powerful, and fascinating film, though some might be thrown off by its ambiguity.

I need to see more Haneke (so far it's just been this and the original Funny Games).

4.5/5