I find it incredibly difficult to rate a Haneke film, especially right after I watched it. His movies slowly grow on you and it takes a lot of time before you could fully appreciate them. When Michael Haneke makes movies he always has something to say, and he is truthful in every depiction he makes. Sometimes it's even hard to call some of his films entertainment. The White Ribbon is just another example of Michael Haneke's mastery in filmmaking. When it comes to the technical aspects there wasn't a single front that wasn't outstanding. The cinematography was so gorgeous that you could literally take any point in the film and make it the poster. This is probably the best looking Haneke film honestly. The pacing is slow but incredibly effective showing a very subtle growth of evil. The acting from everybody in this huge cast is outstanding, every kid actor in this movie is better than 99% of actors working today. Everyone was giving it their all and if you look at any person in any of Haneke's films you wouldn't spot a single actor that isn't doing a great performance.
This movie is about evil and how it grows into something awful to come. It's super super subtle and kind of hard to catch. Michael Haneke is distracting us with the obvious evil so that we don't realize the subtle evil in front of us. So even though when I finished the film I was slightly underwhelmed when it ended, thinking back it was really harrowing. This is the closest Michael Haneke will ever come to making a Holocaust movie, and instead of giving you satisfying answers like Stephen Spielberg's Schindler's list it does something much more powerful and harrowing.
This movie is about evil and how it grows into something awful to come. It's super super subtle and kind of hard to catch. Michael Haneke is distracting us with the obvious evil so that we don't realize the subtle evil in front of us. So even though when I finished the film I was slightly underwhelmed when it ended, thinking back it was really harrowing. This is the closest Michael Haneke will ever come to making a Holocaust movie, and instead of giving you satisfying answers like Stephen Spielberg's Schindler's list it does something much more powerful and harrowing.