The White Ribbon (2009)
Religion has historically been a catalyst allowing horrible behavior to largely go unregulated in the interest of larger moral purity. Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon largely uses this idea to paint a vivid and disturbing image of a small German village right before the first World War where children are abused both mentally and physically in the name of religion.
The White Ribbon is a frustrating film for a few reasons, the first simply being the structure. The film, despite having a few main focuses, is largely a holistic view of this village and those who live within it. There are multiple plots and characters shown throughout the film that the film hops between with little reason or purpose. Rather than stitching together a worthwhile patchwork thesis, this feels like the first and largest place where the film went wrong. Without a more structured focus, the film is subject to feeling as if it is wandering far too often with the already longer 144-minute runtime feeling painful at times. The film is confusing to follow and it consistently felt hard to fully become immersed in this village which is something the film requires to fully connect.
What doesn't help with the engagement level the film carries is the actual thesis it is coming to which feels rather unimportant. Haneke historically is quite vague when it comes to the actual thesis of his films allowing the audience to pull their own meanings in relation to what is happening in their own minds but The White Ribbon feels disconnected from social importance for a variety of reasons. The film's setting is foreign both in location and time causing the society Haneke seemingly is trying to create a commentary around to feel irrelevant to today's society and the wandering feeling that the film carries fails to create any sense of engagement or provocative interest from the audience. It is incredibly easy to simply just not care about any of the characters or plot details and there really feels like there should be more than there actually is. The film both in visual style and sadistic use of gruesome scenes to get a reaction from the audience feels reminiscent to something like The Painted Bird from 2019, but even that was a film that had clear metaphors and points where one could engage with the film on a deeper level if they could make it over how genuinely disgusting the content of that film was. Where The White Ribbon might be easier to digest, the content feels so less interesting to engage with and the overall viewing experience feels so much less worthwhile.
On a technical level, the film is competent but not quite anything spectacular either. The cinematography from long-time Haneke collaborator Christian Berger stands out due to its black and white style but the shot composition feels incredibly average and nothing compared to the works of Łukasz Żal for example. Instead, the most impressive technical elements within the film are its production and costume design. Where the overall world might struggle to hook the audience, these two elements easily feel the most developed and alive over anything else within the feature.
The White Ribbon might not be worthless, but when one looks at all the parts within the film it feels like the sum should be much greater than it is. There is something brewing within the film, but that is never realized due to the slower and more vague style of storytelling portrayed within the film that fails to find the depth and purpose that the film clearly wants to have. Nothing hooks the audience or gets them to care enough to truly engage deeply with the feature, and largely the film simply feels forgettable even if it is in no way offensively bad.
The White Ribbon is a frustrating film for a few reasons, the first simply being the structure. The film, despite having a few main focuses, is largely a holistic view of this village and those who live within it. There are multiple plots and characters shown throughout the film that the film hops between with little reason or purpose. Rather than stitching together a worthwhile patchwork thesis, this feels like the first and largest place where the film went wrong. Without a more structured focus, the film is subject to feeling as if it is wandering far too often with the already longer 144-minute runtime feeling painful at times. The film is confusing to follow and it consistently felt hard to fully become immersed in this village which is something the film requires to fully connect.
What doesn't help with the engagement level the film carries is the actual thesis it is coming to which feels rather unimportant. Haneke historically is quite vague when it comes to the actual thesis of his films allowing the audience to pull their own meanings in relation to what is happening in their own minds but The White Ribbon feels disconnected from social importance for a variety of reasons. The film's setting is foreign both in location and time causing the society Haneke seemingly is trying to create a commentary around to feel irrelevant to today's society and the wandering feeling that the film carries fails to create any sense of engagement or provocative interest from the audience. It is incredibly easy to simply just not care about any of the characters or plot details and there really feels like there should be more than there actually is. The film both in visual style and sadistic use of gruesome scenes to get a reaction from the audience feels reminiscent to something like The Painted Bird from 2019, but even that was a film that had clear metaphors and points where one could engage with the film on a deeper level if they could make it over how genuinely disgusting the content of that film was. Where The White Ribbon might be easier to digest, the content feels so less interesting to engage with and the overall viewing experience feels so much less worthwhile.
On a technical level, the film is competent but not quite anything spectacular either. The cinematography from long-time Haneke collaborator Christian Berger stands out due to its black and white style but the shot composition feels incredibly average and nothing compared to the works of Łukasz Żal for example. Instead, the most impressive technical elements within the film are its production and costume design. Where the overall world might struggle to hook the audience, these two elements easily feel the most developed and alive over anything else within the feature.
The White Ribbon might not be worthless, but when one looks at all the parts within the film it feels like the sum should be much greater than it is. There is something brewing within the film, but that is never realized due to the slower and more vague style of storytelling portrayed within the film that fails to find the depth and purpose that the film clearly wants to have. Nothing hooks the audience or gets them to care enough to truly engage deeply with the feature, and largely the film simply feels forgettable even if it is in no way offensively bad.