Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)

Director:

Michael Haneke

Writer:

Michael Haneke (writer)

Release Date:

24 September 2009 (Austria)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery. |

Plot Keywords:

Church Service | Rural Life | Narration | Crime Against Child | Narrator

Awards:

4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Christian Friedel	...	The School Teacher
Ernst Jacobi	...	The School Teacher (voice)
Leonie Benesch	...	Eva
Ulrich Tukur	...	The Baron
Ursina Lardi	...	The Baronin
Fion Mutert	...	Sigi
Michael Kranz	...	The Home Teacher
Burghart Klaußner	...	The Pastor
Steffi Kühnert	...	The Pastor's Wife
Maria-Victoria Dragus	...	Klara
Leonard Proxauf	...	Martin
Levin Henning	...	Adolf
Johanna Busse	...	Margarete
Thibault Sérié	...	Gustav
Josef Bierbichler	...	The Steward

Also Known As:

The White Ribbon (International: English title) (UK) (USA)
A White Ribbon (Europe: English title)
Il nastro bianco (Italy)
Le ruban blanc (France)
The White Tape or the Teacher's Tale (International: English title) (working title)
A Fita Branca (Brazil) (festival title) [pt]
Belaya lenta (Russia) [ru]
Beyaz bant (Turkey: Turkish title) (festival title) [tr]
Biala wstazka (Poland) [pl]
I lefki kordela (Greece) [el]
La cinta blanca (Spain) [es]

MPAA:

Rated R for some disturbing content involving violence and sexuality.

Runtime:

144 min

Country:

Austria | Germany | France | Italy

Language:

German | Italian | Polish | Latin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #45622) | USA:R | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | UK:15 | Ireland:15A

Filming Locations:

Leipzig, Saxony, Germany

Company:

X-Filme Creative Pool

Trivia:

Germany's official submission to 82nd Academy Award's Foreign Language in 2010.

A beguiling 'trojan horse' full of deep unease

The White Ribbon is the latest from that master of creepy unease, Michael Haneke. But where Funny Games and Hidden were very much set in the urban present, this takes place in a vanished world, an Austrian farming village just before World War One.

The village is dominated by three men, the unlovable Baron, the despicable doctor and the convincingly monstrous village minister. They are surrounded by a web of apathy, malice, brutality and envy. As the Baron's wife said! But in the midst of all this innocence blossoms, as the narrator, the young schoolteacher, falls in love with the even younger nanny in the big house.

It's been shot in colour and printed in near monochrome, making each shot as worthy of framing as in any film-noir, and it benefits from the richness and subtlety of texture you'll only get with colour.

Added to that is the sheer intensity of the story telling, beyond Ingmar Bergman at his least stagey. There are hardly any extras; half of the characters get to be fully dimensional, and there is never any sense of acting. In this sternly protestant village they are all trying to keep their emotions buried but we, the fly on the wall, get to see the subtle signals in their faces.

The village is galvanised by a series of mysterious accidents and crimes, and these dramatic incidents link the whole thing together, but it's the fascination the camera has in these people that will hold your attention. It loves them all, the utterly vile as much as the sweet and tender. The White Ribbon is bookended by the longest fade-in and fade-out ever, and it felt just right at the end as we had been buried so deep in this other world.