steve_b33

Very good urban drama with Gosling as the heart of gold teacher who seems to function normally but has a serious secret drug habit - one of his pupils (Epps) discovers this but keeps quiet and the two strike up a tentative friendship - her uncle is a dealer and tries to get her to join the business - forcing Gosling into direct action. What's interesting about it is that is non-judgemental - a junkie teacher would be an obvious target for moral panic but the film merely observes without drawing any conclusions - both leads work very together and Gosling shows even back then just what a superb actor he is - highly recommended...

Haneke's haunting parable set in a small German village on the eve of WWI - told from the perspective of a local teacher (with a voice over looking back many years later) it tells of a series of events that took place - some mundane, others quite horrific that engulfed the village - no-one can be found to be blamed and this creates tensions that ratchet up the already tense relationship between the major characters. Its as much a mediation on the roots of evil and how in the years to come these roots will manifest themselves as history. Its engrossing throughout with long elegant takes and fantastic B&W photography - its quite slow and at 2h24m quite a long haul but won the Palme D'Or at Cannes that year - and it does reward the effort.....