Film: The White Ribbon
Release date: 15th March 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 144 mins
Director: Michael Haneke
Starring: Christian Friedel, Leonie Benesh, Burkhart Klaussner, Ulrich Tukur, Steffi Kühnert
Genre: Drama/Mystery
Studio: Artificial Eye
Format: DVD
Country: Germany/Austria/France/Italy
Once known as the enfant terrible of the art house, Michael Haneke has garnered mainstream acclaim for the maturation and restraint displayed in later films such as The Piano Teacher in 2002 and Caché in 2005. His latest film appears to continue this trend, winning critical plaudits upon cinematic release, along with the coveted Palme d’Or at 2009’s Cannes Film Festival.
Set in a small German village on the eve of WWI, strange and mysterious events draw a cloud of resentment, repression and simmering violence over its inhabitants. A hidden wire injures a doctor travelling on a horse, loose floorboards cause a tragic fall, a boy is found tied up and thrashed, and a crop is savagely destroyed. The children of a strict disciplinarian pastor appear cool and inhuman.
As a young schoolteacher attempts to uncover the truth behind these sinister happenings, the moral corruption of the patriarchs of the village reveals itself, with dark implications for the next generation...
Haneke shapes his narrative as a series of interlinking vignettes, bringing to mind earlier works such as 71 Fragments Of A Chronology Of Chance (1994) and Code Unknown (2000), exploring the moral consequences of a pre-war context through minute, ambiguously symbolic actions.
Haneke has always been a divisive figure, and it is no surprise, then, to find that underneath the sterile tones and clean lines of his imagery lay emotional, political and thematic complexities which are ripe for critical and sociological dissection. Always an overtly provocative artist, he demands the viewer take a position, form an opinion, use their critical faculties and question what they are being shown. This is not just the effect of his style, but an intrinsic part of his philosophy, mirrored in both the substance of the film’s narratives (or lack of) and the forms they take.
In other words, Haneke’s films challenge conventional audiences, but they are also about challenging the audience. He attempts this balancing act by using transgressive, shocking elements to induce an instinctive yet intuitively moral response to the situations, whilst presenting characters’ actions without the given psychological motivations typical of Hollywood fare. Little explicit explanation is offered for the strange violence enacted by the village’s members, forcing the audience to interrogate the historical context, and wider themes of morality and consequence.
In many ways, The White Ribbon is a departure for Haneke. It is the first period film of his long directorial career and, after working in France for a number of years, it is the first of his since 1997’s Funny Games to be an Austrian/German production. The change of scene does nothing, however, to diminish or soften his unique auteurial vision, and Haneke has produced a morality tale of remarkable clarity, poise and power.
Haneke draws proceedings as a deceptively simple parable, a highly moral, vigilant allegory for the rise of fascism. The largely terrifying children of the village, at once supremely obedient and sadistically threatening, are shown as inevitable products of their upbringings. Whilst the children are ambiguous in their violent fragility, the adults of the village – the pastor, the doctor, the baron – are mostly revealed as brutish, strict, overbearing and hypocritical. They bring their children up in environments of violence and fear, yet expect of them innocence, subservience and perfect behaviour. It is these sad, confused, aggressive children, Haneke suggests, who will grow up during WWI and be instrumental figures in the rise of Nazism as adults.
Typically for the director, few narrative conclusions are revealed, answers are withheld, and the violence almost always occurs off screen. The camera lingers closely on faces, on blank, bleak landscapes, capturing withheld emotions and repressed violence. What makes the film such a success, however, is a newfound warmth in Haneke’s direction and his use of characters. Like all his films, The White Ribbon is difficult - a challenge to his audiences, but whereas in the past he has often refused to come in from the cold, here he constructs his vignettes around a central story of a budding romance between two genuinely likable characters.
Christian Friedel’s innocent, bumbling schoolteacher and Leonie Benesch’s nanny Eva provide a counterbalance to the cold sterility and tragic narratives of the rest of the film’s characters, providing a hopeful core of humanity. Both are played perfectly, but the acting throughout the cast is sublime. Haneke must surely be one of the most gifted filmmakers in world cinema in drawing out superb performances from child actors, and this film displays his gift in abundance. The pastor’s children, in particular, are entrancingly, chillingly well performed.
Composed with the subtlety and grace we have come accustomed to from Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon is a genuine achievement - a striking blend of style and substance with an unequivocal moral message. If you are prepared for the ambiguity and bleakness displayed by this film, you will come away surprised at the warmth at its heart. KI
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