Friday 6 November 2009

The White Ribbon - a movie by Michael Haneke

We have just been to see The White Ribbon at Les 400 Coups Chatellerault.
A movie, documentary, drama, thriller, crime novel.....
We wholeheartedly agree with the critique of the film on
The "story" within the film is truly reminiscent of someone's existence somewhere in the world. Brilliant camerawork and editing. I loved the scene where the camera conveys stillness as the lonely boy seeking solace and comfort in the middle of the night, searches for Anni, only to discover further incomprehension when he discovers where she is and with whom. We listened to it in German with French subtitles and we do not understand German and to our surprise read and understood much of the French text. Watching the imagery and understanding the plot required enormous concentration coupled with the emotional factors of seeing abuse. The relief of tension as the final black screen signaled the end of the film made me realise how tense I had been throughout this BRILLIANTLY executed movie. Yes, one needs to talk about it and we're reading the reviews to see how well our interpretation matches with others. This black and white creation without any music score was so very powerful. All levels of abuse in the world should end but in fact it has gone on for ever and one wonders when humanity will cease the cruelty and perversion that exists. The innocence of Eva and the portrayal of the vulnerability of women and children was very thought provoking.
I found it intriguing, mesmerising and really very frightening and found myself muttering "Oh no" and "My God" with various intakes of breath.
We're still asking questions as to what we think had happened and to whom and why.
See

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