The White Ribbon film review

The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke (2009) is about the mysterious events that happen in a small German village just before World War 1. Whilst Haneke has said that this film is about “the origins of terrorism”, I see it more to be about the treatment of children at the time.

I’ll be honest; I didn’t expect much from this film from hearing the overview however I was more impressed by the way this film was shot rather than the storyline.

I found that the use of black and white really made this film and was particularly effective when close up shots of faces were used. The crisp images (resembling the clarity of Chuck Close’s work) made me feel like the characters were right in front of me. The black and white provided strong contrasts in colour, similar to the contrasts visible between classes through the set.

The set really demonstrated to me the difference in lifestyle for people at that time. The poorer housing was small, had paint peeling from the walls and had wooden shutters for the small windows. On the other hand the rich housing had wood panelling, rugs, pictures and tapestries on the walls, large windows and curtains and patterned wallpaper.   I also noticed that the scenes of  the poorer civilians had them all crammed into the frame, (to demonstrate how they were crammed into houses perhaps?) however the shots of the rich housing tended to have lots of negative space in the frame; showing that they can afford to own bigger houses.

The angles used in some of the scenes were interesting e.g. when the farmer sees his dead wife on a bed the audience see the view from the corridor. The audience can only see her feet and part of the farmer as he leans over his dead wife, only suggesting to the audience what is happening. I found this very intriguing as situations were only being suggested, leaving the audience to think about what they were seeing and come to their own conclusions.

A lot of scenes were also of doors in corridors again leaving the audience to interpret the situation, but this could also be a reflection of how people did live in silence and behind closed doors at that time (this was also clearly demonstrated when characters knew that the Doctor sexually abuses his daughter yet they didn’t say anything). Use of silence was also very effective throughout this film as the moments of quiet did bring tension and made me feel uncomfortable throughout.  There was also no background music at all which for me gave the film a sense of realism. As with modern films there is a soundtrack telling you how to feel, The White Ribbon relies on the viewer to interpret and think for themselves.

Finally, I liked the way that this film put doubt into my mind. E.g. the title of the film The White Ribbon symbolises innocence and purity. The Pastor ties white ribbons in his children’s’ hair and around their arms however his children are constantly doing things that are contradicting this. I also liked that how by the end it is suggested that the children of the town are the ones who are causing these incidents, again contradicting what The White Ribbon stands for and yet again leaving the audience to come up with their own conclusion.