White Ribbon by Michael Haneke - Movie Review Example

White Ribbon” Reflection Paper One of the first things that will strike the audience as the opening scenes of “White Ribbon” by Michael Haneke unfolds is the fact that the whole movie was obviously shot on colored film and then stripped of its color. This is the obvious assumption since black and white film is supremely hard to come by these days without breaking the bank on film purchases. Mr. Hanekes color choice for the film helps add to the mystery and heightened emotions that develop throughout the film. Just like a classic Alfred Hitchcock movie or any other film noir, the choice to not use any color palette aside from gray, black, and white in the movie creates a gripping sense of drama and the unexpected that helps to place the viewer on the edge of his seat. The story is kicked off by the voice of a narrator, an old man who had previously lived in the village and experienced the mysterious events that remained without answers. His narration is supposed to be a hindsight explanation of how the Germans eventually fell prey to the Fascism of Adolf Hitler during World War 2. In his mind, the reasons behind the rise of the Third Reich and the potential targeting of the Jews can be traced back, at least for him and those whom he knew, to the way that their little village was run by the Baron and its other residents in a similar fashion during the years leading up to World War 1. The children who grew up during this era were after all, the very same children who came into adulthood during the time of Hitler and delivered the power he so craved to him when he asked for it. Hanke, as a film maker, dug deep into the history of the two world wars that Germany was directly involved in order to successfully portray the complex love and hate relationships of the village residents that served as the catalyst of violence within the community. Borrowing from American literature, the children who wore the “White Ribbon” on their arms reminds one of the evil and judgment that accompanied the women who wore the “Scarlett Letter” in Nathaniel Hawthornes historic American literary work. The incestuous relationship between the doctor and his 14 year old daughter proves the kind of complex relationship between the residents of the village. Although the doctor loved her father, as shown at the beginning after his fall from his horse, she also despised him for abusing her. The wife of the Baron, was in a hurtful love affair with the same doctor whom she could not leave. By interweaving the lives of these people, we begin a study in human nature and how violence corrupts the idea of peace, love, and judgment among simple people. When violence is a part of a persons daily life, he begins to believe that there is no escape from it. Which makes him long for a savior to come and end the misery he is in. The town is gripped by the fear of the unknown and also of the way that their lives are controlled by the state (as represented by the baron), and yet they choose to do nothing about it because they do not feel that they are capable of putting an end to the violence that exists for them. Instead, they continue to live in their dysfunctional and oppressive society because it is all that they have known all their lives. This being a film that tries to explain the roots of Hitlers Nazi organization and his Fascist beliefs, Haneke makes sure to show hints of its influence and development as early as the pre World War 1 years by having the parents affix the “White Ribbon” on the naughty children. Making them wear the ribbon as a sign of punishment and ridicule until such a time that they feel that the child has suffered enough by wearing the ribbon. A move that during World War 2 turned into a way of identifying the Germans as opposed to the Jews of Germany. The bad / dirty people (the Jews) did not get to wear the Nazi swastika as a badge of honor like the “clean” Germans did. The method by which the village reacted to the way that the violence was taking over their village is the veiled method by which Haneke develops not only a theory of continuing violence, but also of fascism in Germany during the years leading up to World War 1. His theory is that Fascism was fed by the life experiences of the people who lived during the time. They did not have a choice but to hang on to Hitler when he came along pronouncing that he could free the Germans from the controlling nature of their politics and society because that is exactly what they longed for. Hitler knew how to use the weakness of the people to his advantage. The method by which he developed the horrific violence in the movie proves one thing. The reason the atrocities of World War 2 happened was because it was part of the German way of life. It was ingrained into them from their youth and as we all know, that is not something that can easily be eradicated from the psyche of a person. As psychologists have long said, “Violence is a cycle and can only end when the person involved chooses to end it”. It is perhaps important to remember that the movie was set on the cusp of World War I when feudalism was starting to come to an end in Germany and the whole world was about to undergo a social and political evolution. I reminded myself to remember that while I viewed the rest of the film. That was when it hit me, this movie is not just about the history and development of the Third Reich and fascism in Germany, it was also about a study in the creation of evil and violence in our world. The “White Ribbon” was just as much a study on the origins of radicalism and terrorism. There was an unseen force. An enemy that nobody could see and therefore could not be fought against. That is perhaps why the 2 hour and 25 minute movie was quite unnerving to me as a viewer. It is a social order that nobody could take down during its time because nobody knew how to do that. Nobody truly understood the intricacies involved in the development of evil and fascism. Nor how terrorism could be successfully used to control the people of a village. This film uses the fear of the unknown in effectively influencing the viewer to fear the next gruesome event that is to come. It uses shock and terror in a way that only a person who lived through the dark days of World War 2 like Mr. Haneke could do. HIs point of view that is carried out through the film seems to be that the evils of World War 2 were placed into a particular generation of Germans by the parents who treated their children with such violence and disdain that the children carried that hatred within them until such a time that they collectively found an outlet for it in the form of wartime atrocities during World War 2. The film becomes an effective study in the effects of social backwardness and the cold-blooded cruelty of a people. As there is no clear perpetrator depicted in the film, I could not help but wonder if the children themselves, in their own innocent way, were committing the crimes in the story. Perhaps influenced by the “Children of the Corn” in a way? Perhaps the children were not as truly repressed as they were represented. After all, the narrator of the story asks us to believe that his account of the events that unfolded in his village were meant to explain the reasons that Hitler managed to claim power in Germany and why the Germans agreed to go along with his reign of violence and terror. It seems highly unlikely to me that the children in this movie, having experienced what they did, did not have some sort of vengeful thoughts in their minds. Even more unlikely was that they would not have acted it out in some manner. So that led me to ask, “Are the children in this movie the victims or the perpetrators”? I found myself becoming more and more engaged in the goings on of the story. Involved with the unfolding events in more than just a spectator kind of way. I began to feel that the director wanted me to do more than just enjoy this foray into a well-crafted black and white horror - thriller. Maybe it is because I knew through my study of history that the Germans were truly capable of the violence depicted in the movie that I felt my stomach churning. Wishing for the violence to stop because all of the acts seemed senseless. I felt that the children were being attacked for their innocence and crimes that they did not even understand that they had committed. The adults I felt, were getting their just desserts as they received a semblance of punishment for the violence that they inflicted upon the children. But what bothered me the most was that I could not shake the feeling that I was in a way, watching the development of Nazi Germany and the Third Reich. These were the circumstances that Adolf Hitler was most likely raised in and therefore, these were also the reasons that he became the man that the world feared before the rise of Bin Laden. Read More