The White Ribbon

In the old days of the "Festival" (ie, before it became TIFF), they used to run a special spotlight program, each year focussing on a single director. One of the first ones I saw was on the work of an Austrian director named Michael Haneke.

I still remember seeing a film called "Benny's Video" in that spotlight in 1992 and being completely floored by the story about a teenage boy who kills a girl with a cattle prod. It's typical of both his early as well as his most recent work, posing difficult moral dilemmas within a fictional story, but the strength of his directing has made the journeys worthwhile .

Since then, he's gone on to produce a number of well-received, if no less disturbing, films like "The Piano Teacher", "Funny Games" and "Caché".

"The White Ribbon" won the Palme d'or" at Cannes earlier this year. It's as meticulous as any of his previous work, although it involves a much larger cast and a more intricate plot than his other films.

Set on the eve of the First World War, the action takes place in a small Austrian village called Eichwald. The lives of the villagers are tightly governed by the rules (economic, social and moral) set forth by the Baron who owns the land and the pastor of the local church.

A series of incidents (an attempt to kill the local doctor, the death of the wife of a farmhand) set in motion a crumbling of the social order of the village. The local music teacher serves as our witness to the changes taking place. Interestingly enough, it is the children of the village that are as much the instigators of the changes, as well as it's victims.

A quietly powerful film. Recommended.