The White Ribbon (2009)

Director: Michael Haneke

Stars: Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi, Leonie Benesch
Runtime: 144 minutes

Synopsis: Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?

Performances: 9/10
Screenplay: 7/10
Editing: 6/10
Cinematography: 10/10

Verdict: Michael Haneke is a masterful director and "The White Ribbon" may be his most impressive feature to date on a technical level. The Oscar-nominated cinematography is nothing short of absolutely gorgeous and will fool anyone into thinking that the film is a classic dating from the 1950s rather than one released a decade ago. The world created within it is impressive and captures the essence of a small German village during the 1910s splendidly. Even the acting is near-perfect, with each performance standing out on its own without ever taking the spotlight from the rest of the cast. However, it's the scale of the project that didn't entirely work for me. The two-and-a-half long movie (some could argue unnecessarily) is by far Haneke's most ambitious and grand project, and maybe that's why I couldn't connect to it as much as his other work. The glacial atmosphere made it impossible for me to truly care about any of the characters, and, as a result, I couldn't get anything out of the film aside from wonder at its technical aspects. It didn't really have the depth found in "Amour" or thrill found in "Funny Games" and I just felt that it didn't have anything of worth to say other than showing what life was like in Europe just before World War 1.

"The White Ribbon" is another case of a film that I respect more than enjoy, and would still recommend it to anyone who can appreciate good filmmaking. However, I do believe that more mainstream audiences will enjoy his other work more than this one, and I can't really blame them for that.

FINAL GRADE: 7/10