There is no doubt that German director Michael Haneke is a masterful director. His films are among the best of the art house films, and always hit home. Yet, despite his films being masterpieces on a technical level, only some of his films serve a point and qualify as brilliant (see Cache or The White Ribbon). Some films, such as this one and Funny Games, just serve to disturb and do not bring across the point that Haneke hopes to establish. Here we have the title character, a middle aged woman who still lives with her mother while her father wastes away in an asylum. After spending her days methodically and even cruelly teaching piano, she spends her nights engaging in voyeuristic activities. When she meets a new student and takes up with him, it becomes clear just how deeply depraved she really is. Like I stated before, there is nothing wrong with the film technically speaking. The material is extremely disturbing, the characters were unlikable, and there was no point to be gotten, at least by me.
**1/2

The children are gathered around the dinner table with empty plates in front of them. Together, they nervously sit as their stern father begins to chastise them. He says for staying out late and worrying their mother and himself half to death, they will go to bed hungry and then be beaten the following day. Furthermore they will have white ribbons attached to themselves, to serve as a reminder of innocence and purity.
     This early scene plays out like most scenes in The White Ribbon: intense and haunting, with sinister undertones which may reach the surface at any moment. Michael Haneke's dark film opens up on the eve of WWI in a small town in Germany. The town's school teacher informs us as the narrator of the strange events taking place in town, of which no one has an explanation and everyone believes are purely coincidental. Also the strange occurrences seem to have something to do with the children, the same children among which some may grow up to commit Nazi atrocities (notice the white ribbon on the young boy's arm in the above picture, which may resemble another possible armband in the future). Not all is right among the adult's in the community as well and many of the townspeople carry secret sins of their own. How is their behavior and discipline methods reflected in their children's actions.
     This is one of those films that makes you think and think and think some more. It is a dark and difficult film, filmed in glorious black and white that you will want to read into and learn about. It could also leave you feeling sick to your stomach or angry or upset. There are no easy answers and my take in the second paragraph isn't necessarily the correct one. However it does what great films do in that it makes you think for yourself.
****