When despotic tyrants rule a nation, the question arises, “What role did the people play in the atrocities committed by their leader?”
Arguably, this inquiry resonates particularly when it comes to the citizens of Germany leading up to and during World War II. Co-writer/director Michael Haneke’s meditation on this subject, “The White Ribbon” (now playing at AMC Elmwood Palace), focuses on a rural village right before the outbreak of World War I and meditates on how that generation’s children could become those who would bend to a misanthropic dictator.
“The White Ribbon” took home the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 and was the only Best Foreign Nominee at the Oscars to also be nominated in another category: Best Cinematography. Set in a small farming community, the film is narrated in hindsight by the local schoolteacher, Ernst Jacobi (Christian Friedel), who conveys how a string of lethal “accidents” led to unwarranted punishments and bitter resentment. Jacobi eventually discovers the culprits of the crimes, and decides how he must address them.
Haneke, along with his director of photography, Christian Berger, shoot the scenes severely with a true sense of beauty via the usage of black and white photography, and static, austerely composed shots. The lack of any music on the soundtrack helps to convey Haneke’s underlying context: that the treatment of children by both their parents and society determine what kind of adults they will be.
Though the movie is on the long side, it never drags, and truly asks the viewer to consider how one’s actions towards children can have a lasting and potentially deadly affect.
“Broken Embraces”
Another excellent foreign film out on Blu-ray/DVD this week, writer/director Pedro Almodovar’s “Broken Embraces,” is a sumptuously shot melodrama, which follows a blind screenwriter who recounts his affair with an aspiring actress (Penelope Cruz).
This love story has many complex emotions ranging from jealousy, guilt and power abuse, but finally encompasses the transcending effects of human connection.
The Blu-ray/DVD presents the film beautifully in all its opulent glory and contains a worthwhile short film by Almodovar, “The Cannibalistic Councilor.”
– Ari Silber
Ari Silber is a Loyola MBA student.Before graduate school, he worked for nine years in the Los Angeles film industry, focusing on marketing, publicity and distribution. He can be reached at [email protected]
