Drew's

Date Reviewed	2/26/2010
Title	The White Ribbon
Rating
Directed By :	Michael Haneke
Starring :	Ulrich Tukur, Ursina Lardi, Christian Friedel, Leonie Benesch, Burghart Klaubner, Leonard Proxauf and Maria Victoria-Dragus
Review	Writer/Director Michael Haneke is separating himself from the pack of moviemakers with an old school style by a new school talent. If you are familiar with “The Piano Teacher” and “Cache” you’ll notice a quiet dark tone especially during the midst of stationary moments. He has a method of eeriness by allowing the scene to materialize with uncommon patience. Many fairly motionless sequences feel like a colorless haunted Eric Rohmer film with far more suspicion. “The White Ribbon” joins his resume as a filthy tale of misconduct in a small village in north Germany years before World War I. Haneke’s first tribute to classic period cinema is to film in black and white. This paints a bleaker and less optimistic canvas. Grass loses its vivid color like a winter farm ground. This small village is remote while off the beaten path. It’s almost its own world like “The Village” by M. Night Shyamalan. This location is an extremely controlled geographical spot. An environment is created of self policing since they already have a long time fundamental routine for punishment and consequences. Burghart Klaubner stars as The Pastor. His god complex is overwhelming. He appears as the town’s moral authority and lesson deliverer. His ego gets in the way of earned confidence. But don’t tell him that! Haneke is the multiple body blows or “ropeadope” of cinema. He lulls you into a morbid mood while entrancing his viewer with little action. He keeps you on the hook for what he may show you instead of what he doesn’t make obvious. His audience has to commit with focus or one can easily drift off subject. Christian Friedel co-stars as the teacher that puts himself in the role as detective. His demeanor is calm, logical and rational. In this village, everyone is the boy who cried wolf since the powers that be aren’t swayed by circumstantial evidence. You may have heard cruel to be kind if it’s in the right measure. That sounds like tough love or vindication for a purpose. The cruelty demonstrated in “The White Ribbon” is devious, mischievous and underhanded. Haneke loves disconnected characters that fail to communicate fluidly. The more movies he creates, they’ll discuss the director more than the particular project. He’s being hoisted into the Lars von Trier category of filmmakers. “The White Ribbon” is fairly interesting tale of malcontented behavior with a leader telling everyone metaphorically to step away because there’s nothing to see here. Yeah, see if the mentally challenged child in the picture believes that! Drew's Reviews, copyright 2010, Drewsmoviereviews.com, property of Drew Bean.