THE WHITE RIBBON, Michael Haneke (2009).

I have had a healthy skepticism regarding Michael Haneke for some time now. I've only seen one of his films, Cache, and while beautiful, was totally lacking in subtlety of message. The one thing I forgot to ask myself, of course, is, "Is subtlety all that fucking important?" I mean, I've always said I liked The Grapes of Wrath, and there's very little subtlety there. 

Anyway, last night, at the encouragement of a good friend I saw Haneke's latest, The White Ribbon, in the theaters. I'm not sure what I think of the film, but regardless it has stuck with me. The visuals are stunning, the children in the film are extremely beautiful, and it seems anchored in the Germanic-language and Germanic-language-inspired European cinema that I love - I'm talking Bergman, Bela Tarr, and most of all, in my opinion, Dreyer. I was especially reminded of Dreyers' Day of Wrath and Ordet both visually and thematically:

from Dreyer's Day of Wrath (1943)

from Dreyer's Ordet (1955)

from The White Ribbon

The point is, I've got nothing to say about this film. (Here's a semi-articulate, albeit negative, review by someone else.) Of course, the popular press hasn't said anything worth hearing about the film as far as I can tell. The problem with this film is that the images render intellectual analysis difficult (which, I think, is a good thing). My memory of the events in the film is distorted by my memory of the images. The White Ribbon, regardless of whether it's right (I've always had trouble with this; is, say, On The Waterfront right? and if not, why do I love it?) invites reviewing, whereas the abrupt brutality of Cache, in my opinion, did not. The White Ribbon doesn't lack brutality - in fact, it's chock full of it, though it's rendered mostly-off screen, or creeps in through the voices of the characters. Furthermore, this film lacks the indictment of the viewer that Cache and supposedly Haneke's other film's (I'm thinking, Funny Games, especially; a film I have avoided) provide. I'm not one for wanting to be indicted (who is?) but perhaps I'll be getting around to watching that copy of Haneke's Time of the Wolf that I've had lying around for so long.