The White Ribbon
15 138 mins
15 138 mins
Themes of guilt and denial haunt this riveting Palme d'Or-winning masterpiece by FUNNY GAMES and AMOUR director Michael Haneke.
In a village in Protestant northen Germany on the eve of World War I, a series of unsettling and distressing incidents take place.
Taken together, they assume the character of a ritual in which punishment and torture dominate.
But the identity of the perpetrators remainds a mystery.
A schoolteacher who has observed the unfolding incidents investigates and, little by little, discovers the disturbing truth.
Are we being asked to consider whether these events contained the germs of the tragedies that would follow years later with the rise of Nazi Germany?
Haneke has never been one to give us answers, often leaving us with more questions at the end of his film.
Screening as part of Complicit: A Michael Haneke Retrospective.