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The White Ribbon

Original title: Das weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte
  • 2009
  • R
  • 2h 24m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
75K
YOUR RATING
The White Ribbon (2009)
Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.
Play trailer1:53
1 Video
64 Photos
DramaMysteryThriller

Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible?

  • Director
    • Michael Haneke
  • Writer
    • Michael Haneke
  • Stars
    • Christian Friedel
    • Ernst Jacobi
    • Leonie Benesch
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.8/10
    75K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Michael Haneke
    • Writer
      • Michael Haneke
    • Stars
      • Christian Friedel
      • Ernst Jacobi
      • Leonie Benesch
    • 228User reviews
    • 288Critic reviews
    • 83Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 2 Oscars
      • 62 wins & 48 nominations total

    Videos1

    The White Ribbon
    Trailer 1:53
    Watch The White Ribbon

    Photos64

    Leonard Proxauf in The White Ribbon (2009)
    Ursina Lardi in The White Ribbon (2009)
    Bianca Mey, Mika Ahrens, Kristina Kneppek, and Stephanie Amarell in The White Ribbon (2009)
    Rainer Bock in The White Ribbon (2009)
    The White Ribbon (2009)
    Detlev Buck and Christian Friedel in The White Ribbon (2009)
    Steffi Kühnert, Leonard Proxauf, and Levin Henning in The White Ribbon (2009)
    The White Ribbon (2009)
    Sara Schivazappa and Fion Mutert in The White Ribbon (2009)
    Maria Dragus and Roxane Duran in The White Ribbon (2009)
    Enno Trebs and Roxane Duran in The White Ribbon (2009)
    The White Ribbon (2009)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Christian Friedel
    Christian Friedel
    • The School Teacher
    Ernst Jacobi
    Ernst Jacobi
    • The School Teacher as an Old Man
    • (voice)
    Leonie Benesch
    Leonie Benesch
    • Eva
    Ulrich Tukur
    Ulrich Tukur
    • The Baron
    Ursina Lardi
    Ursina Lardi
    • The Baroness
    Fion Mutert
    • Sigi
    Michael Kranz
    Michael Kranz
    • The Tutor
    Burghart Klaußner
    Burghart Klaußner
    • The Pastor
    • (as Burghart Klaussner)
    Steffi Kühnert
    Steffi Kühnert
    • The Pastor's Wife
    Maria Dragus
    Maria Dragus
    • Klara
    • (as Maria-Victoria Dragus)
    Leonard Proxauf
    Leonard Proxauf
    • Martin
    Levin Henning
    • Adolf
    Johanna Busse
    • Margarete
    Yuma Amecke
    • Annchen
    Thibault Sérié
    Thibault Sérié
    • Gustav
    Josef Bierbichler
    Josef Bierbichler
    • The Steward
    Gabriela Maria Schmeide
    • The Steward's Wife
    • (as Gabriela-Maria Schmeide)
    Janina Fautz
    Janina Fautz
    • Erna
    • Director
      • Michael Haneke
    • Writer
      • Michael Haneke(story) (screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Most of the adults are not given names in the film, instead being called Pastor, Baron, Steward, etc. This includes the narrator, who is only known as The School Teacher.
    • Goofs
      In the scene when the farmer sits next to his wife's corpse, the actress's breathing is noticeable.
    • Quotes

      Martin: I gave God a chance to kill me. He didn't do it, so he's pleased with me.

    • Crazy credits
      The opening and closing credits are shown in complete silence. There is no music or other sounds during both entire credit sequences.
    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Cannes Film Festival 2009 (2009)
    • Soundtracks
      O Sacred Head Now Wounded
      (uncredited)

      Lyrics from a mediaeval Latin poem

      Music by Hans Leo Hassler

      Sung in the church

    User reviews228

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    A careful and ambiguous analysis of evil
    Fans of Michael Haneke's more morally shocking films such as 'Funny Games', 'Benny's Video' or the draining 'Time of the Wolf' might find themselves surprised by the quieter and slower analysis of evil in his latest work 'Das Weisse Band'.

    The action takes place in a North German village shortly before the outbreak of the First World War and in structure presents a number of subtly drawn individual characters as they are caught up in a mysterious series of violent events.

    In the hands of a mere moralist this could be an unbearable few hours. But it's credit to Haneke's skill as a film-maker that we are utterly caught up and absorbed by a large cast of children and adults.

    One of the on-going arguments in Haneke's films appears to be the origins of human evil, or perhaps more precisely put, individual acts of evil behaviour. Are such acts an individual's responsibility or do they spring from a climate in which particular energies are at work? This is the question Haneke appears to be exploring here (just as was a central question relating to French society in 'Cache').

    One of the most disturbing things at the heart of the film is the fact that we do not know why particular acts of evil take place (including the maiming of a disabled child and the beating of a nobleman's son), or even who commits them. However, this is no 'whodunnit', although with its retrospective voice-over from the School Teacher's p.o.v. we are let to believe for a long time that were in a crime/thriller genre.

    Throughout his body of work so far, Haneke has suggested that looking for the sort of easy answers films and TV all too readily supply is partly responsible for our misunderstanding how violence in society occurs. (Funny Games).

    'The White Ribbon' bypasses the usual dramatical devices of motivation and blame and instead softly focuses on an environment (in this case Germany in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century) in which certain unhealthy energies are at work.

    These energies include an emotionally repressed and joyless Protestantism, the mistreatment and oppression of women, the familial abuse of children, the fetishism of strong masculine and patriarchal values, and the un-breachable divide between the rich and the poor. Set over all this, like an umbrella, is the fact that the small provincial society depicted in the film is all but completely isolated from wider society.

    Another poster here has pointed out that Haneke is using his village as a microcosm to reflect Germany as a whole, and I would agree with that. Haneke's Dorf, whilst having an individual character, is a relative of Von Trier's Dogville in the sense that it stands for a larger set of national values. In this respect Haneke seems to be diagnosing German society in the run up to the 'Great' War as one of authoritarianism, religious doubt, intolerance, and fear.

    What is remarkable in such a film is how little human joy or love is to be found in such a seemingly idyllic rural landscape. The love strand (between the narrator Teacher and the dismissed 17 yr old children's nurse) has a rather strained aspect. It is as though the film maker is suggesting that affection might also be down to available opportunity.

    One of the most moving scenes in The White Ribbon is when a young child brings his father, a Priest, a caged bird he has nursed back to health. The father's beloved pet canary was killed (by his daughter as a protest against the bleak, loveless household she's been reared in - a home in which a father shows more affection to a small bird than his own children.

    Thus the scene symbolically depicts a child demonstrating the love that the parent himself is unable of showing. Tears fill the priest's eyes. It is a tiny moment of love and hope in an otherwise emotionally barren wasteland. It is also a symbol of how a new generations of Germans have dealt with, and healed, previous decades of pain.
    helpful•401
    44
    • rolls_chris
    • Oct 18, 2009

    FAQ3

    • What is "The White Ribbon" about?
    • Is the movie based on a book?
    • What does the title mean?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 5, 2010 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • Germany
      • Austria
      • France
      • Italy
      • Canada
    • Official sites
      • Official site (Austria)
      • Official site (France)
    • Languages
      • German
      • Italian
      • Polish
      • Latin
    • Also known as
      • The White Tape or the Teacher's Tale
    • Filming locations
      • Leipzig, Saxony, Germany
    • Production companies
      • X-Filme Creative Pool
      • Wega Film
      • Les Films du Losange
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $18,000,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $2,222,862
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $59,848
      • Jan 3, 2010
    • Gross worldwide
      • $19,319,671
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 24 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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