March 4, 2010: The White Ribbon
I totally need a free pass on The White Ribbon. This is another review which I know will cause me great delays in my writing if I don’t just tackle it once and for all and get it over with.
The White Ribbon is a black-and-white German film, which took the art-house circuit by storm in 2009 including winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes, nominated for Oscars for its cinematography as well as for Best Foreign Language Film. It is set in a small village around the time of the first World War, in which accidents or violence seem to keep happening to people, and it’s unclear exactly why. Focusing on a few specific families and their children, the story meanders, tied loosely together through the narration of a schoolteacher who is trying to figure out what’s going on in the village. Strict discipline (in one family, a white ribbon tied around children’s arms is a punishment for their behaviour, intended to remind them of their purity) doesn’t keep the kids from seemingly running the show, despite the delusions of power held by a land baron and a doctor who dominate the small town.
The White Ribbon is clearly channeling the films of the late Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, which is obvious enough to me through the style and the look and the pacing, and I’ve only ever seen and/or remembered one or two of his films. This is no doubt tied to the accolades being piled on this film. To me, it seemed like a lot of events were strung together with no seeming relation, and nothing was ever explained. The schoolteacher had a theory, but then the movie just ended.
I definitely can’t do this one justice, and it wasn’t my pick for the foreign language film Oscar although the cinematography was classically brilliant. Read some real reviews of this one to find out what it’s about.
Once again I rely on others.
Post a Comment