(2009) The White Ribbon/ Das weisse Band
(In German with English subtitles)
PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA
Written and directed by Michael Haneke which the setting is fictional taking place before the first world war which was in 1914. Anyone who are aware about German history won't appreciate this film as much since they were just a fighting empire at that time meaning that Germany was not ruled by Adolf Hitler so for the director to imply that Germany became fascist even before the first world war is incorrect. I mean if that was the case critically acclaim German directors such as Fritz Lang and Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Ernst Lubitsch and F. W. Murnau would not be allowed to make the movies that they made and were made during the time of World War 1. But even by watching it, the experience overall is still very talky without much action which many or most of the key events are implied rather than shown. The story centers on a small remote little village with one church. We see a doctor riding into the village while on a horse. The horse then trips over a wire throwing the doctor to the ground. This is the only action sequence anyone is going to see throughout the entire film. Once the judicial officer is there he's then asks around to know the culprit or culprits who placed that wire and then remove it once coming over there. No one says anything evoking just brain dead speculations, even when this officer asks on front of the church. Two weeks later the wife of a famer gets killed while going into a barn. Viewers are shown a hole and some personal blame is being placed toward the baron of the village since it's being said that he intended for that to happen. Then we also see children being punished by their father for not coming home right away for going to another village provoking the mother to frantically looking for them. And it is during at that time we get to know why the film is called "White Ribbon" for it's what this particular father does whenever some of his kids does bad things. He ties some of them a white ribbon either to the boys arm or to each of their daughters long hair so that it could remind them not to commit any practice any bad things, which as we watch the movie further does absolutely nothing. And that all of that narration that is being done by a young ambitious school teacher can't seem to do anything either for he can just be as dense everyone else in the village. The director Michael Haneke only suggested that German fascism can evolve from this little village without having to say that it can mean much more than such as poverty and economic structure. We don't even get to see how children are even taught in this school since discipline comes in all shapes and sizes including from education. From looking at the big picture kids can never be smarter than adults but that seems to be the case in this film. From a running time of more than two hours, we don't even get to see how they celebrate birthdays nor any sincerity which I'm sure even during Hitler's regime of WWII, there were many Germans who didn't agree with Hitler's ideals but have to go along with it anyway since people were too poor to move nor did they never get a chance to do so, for to join in his army was a requirement by Hitler himself to fight on his cause. This is not really a revelation, only another speculation he may have heard or told about before. "The White Ribbon" gained and Oscar nomination is still an interesting film but at the same time can also be very boring.
Written and directed by Michael Haneke which the setting is fictional taking place before the first world war which was in 1914. Anyone who are aware about German history won't appreciate this film as much since they were just a fighting empire at that time meaning that Germany was not ruled by Adolf Hitler so for the director to imply that Germany became fascist even before the first world war is incorrect. I mean if that was the case critically acclaim German directors such as Fritz Lang and Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Ernst Lubitsch and F. W. Murnau would not be allowed to make the movies that they made and were made during the time of World War 1. But even by watching it, the experience overall is still very talky without much action which many or most of the key events are implied rather than shown. The story centers on a small remote little village with one church. We see a doctor riding into the village while on a horse. The horse then trips over a wire throwing the doctor to the ground. This is the only action sequence anyone is going to see throughout the entire film. Once the judicial officer is there he's then asks around to know the culprit or culprits who placed that wire and then remove it once coming over there. No one says anything evoking just brain dead speculations, even when this officer asks on front of the church. Two weeks later the wife of a famer gets killed while going into a barn. Viewers are shown a hole and some personal blame is being placed toward the baron of the village since it's being said that he intended for that to happen. Then we also see children being punished by their father for not coming home right away for going to another village provoking the mother to frantically looking for them. And it is during at that time we get to know why the film is called "White Ribbon" for it's what this particular father does whenever some of his kids does bad things. He ties some of them a white ribbon either to the boys arm or to each of their daughters long hair so that it could remind them not to commit any practice any bad things, which as we watch the movie further does absolutely nothing. And that all of that narration that is being done by a young ambitious school teacher can't seem to do anything either for he can just be as dense everyone else in the village. The director Michael Haneke only suggested that German fascism can evolve from this little village without having to say that it can mean much more than such as poverty and economic structure. We don't even get to see how children are even taught in this school since discipline comes in all shapes and sizes including from education. From looking at the big picture kids can never be smarter than adults but that seems to be the case in this film. From a running time of more than two hours, we don't even get to see how they celebrate birthdays nor any sincerity which I'm sure even during Hitler's regime of WWII, there were many Germans who didn't agree with Hitler's ideals but have to go along with it anyway since people were too poor to move nor did they never get a chance to do so, for to join in his army was a requirement by Hitler himself to fight on his cause. This is not really a revelation, only another speculation he may have heard or told about before. "The White Ribbon" gained and Oscar nomination is still an interesting film but at the same time can also be very boring.