Whit Ribbon

The White Ribbon – Michael Haneke (2009)

The White Ribbon is a black and white German film set in 1913, just before the First World War.  The film depicts family life in a northern German village, many mysterious events happen throughout that deal with abuse, violence and revenge and death, foreshadowing the events of the war to come. The ‘white ribbon’ symbolises purity, the pastor of the village is very disciplinary with his children and makes sure they follow his strict rules, if they don’t he shames them into wearing a white ribbon until he thinks they are cleansed again. This could reference some of the political leader’s behaviour during this time.

Haneke has made a very conscious decision making the film black and white, it reflects the tone of the film which itself foreshadows the war through themes of violence and death. It could also signal the mood of the characters, after events such as a man riding on a horse being tripped up, a man being hung, a boy being blinded, and many other acts of abuse, they don’t seem to have any hope and optimism for these acts to stop, which could also be broadened out to the mood of everyone like these people living at the time of the war. Considering as it was only filmed two years ago the black and white really does age the film and could be purposely made to look like real footage, which gives the film a sense of realism, as if it’s real material we are seeing rather than actors. The plot itself is very disturbing to watch particularly as it centres around poor treatment of children, but I also feel the black and white adds to this as I get the feeling that we are not seeing the whole story, he has chosen not to reveal the whole picture which put us into a similar position as the characters who don’t really understand the events, together these make for a unsettling watch.

Realism is also created through techniques such as filming scenes on location as opposed to a set, again going back to how the film give the authentic feel of footage. Also supporting this are choices such as not having a soundtrack, just natural sounds, which reflects the sombre mood of the characters. Unlike many other films shot at this time, there is no manipulating of the viewer’s focus, through static camera shots and the use of real time, one particular example of this is where a little boy goes to look for his sister and keeps disappearing and reappearing in the shots which last a couple minutes.

Even though the film wasn’t directly about the front line side of the war, it happened to be very useful and relevant to my project to see what sort of lifestyle people in European villages led. For me I paid particular attention to the props and how the houses were decorated. It was useful to see a contrast between a poorer family’s home and one belonging to people with more money. Because the film was made two years ago, there are many references to the impending war, and even though the focus for my project is the home front, I could use this film to help make references to the war through props found in village homes, such as using left over soldier equipment and transform it into something else, as a reference to that great event which would without a doubt would have come into their homes.