The White Ribbon – 8

Michael Haneke’s meditation on cruelty, or evil?, as embedded in German culture, or humanity?, in 1914. The father figures alternated between humiliating their women and beating their children, a lesson the children had learned all too well and practiced on the weakest among them. The world at large was not much better, as we were reminded by the commencement of the First World War. The black-and-white cinematography was stark and stunning, and the untroubled but profoundly troubling face of Karla, the blond young ringleader, remains to haunt well after the closing credits. The opening credits, small, white-on-black and soundless, grabbed your attention, and the unsolved mysteries of the story meant you were never comfortable, just as Haneke wanted.

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