"White Ribbon" describes the German township in 1913. It revolves around several typical families in the town, such as the families of barons, housekeepers, doctors, priests, and tenant farmers. All people are maintaining a social ethics and moral standards and norms, but all People are depressed, twisted and unhappy, and under the appearance of being sanctimonious, people from adults to children are perverted. Barons rule the town's politics and economy, priests rule the spirit, and all fathers rule the family, including wives and children.
In every relationship between the ruled and the ruled, on the surface, the ruling side is absolutely strong, but the ruled weak side will actually fight back in other forms. The eldest son of the tenant farmer stubbornly believed that the baron who assigned the job should be responsible for the death of his mother, and the tenant farmer, because his livelihood depended on the baron, was not allowed to reason with the eldest son. The eldest son retaliates by shoveling the vegetables in the baron's field, and the baron terminates the lease of the land to their family, forcing the livelihood of the tenant farmers to suffer. The desperate tenant farmer set fire to the baron's warehouse and hanged himself. The tenant farmer's death-defying struggle was bound to make the baron morally and conscientiously condemned. He ran to attend the tenant farmer's funeral, but the tenant farmer's son refused to shake his hand. He still ran to the front of the line with a shy face, declaring his status in the town. And falsely maintain social etiquette, in the end is a disgrace. On the eve of the First World War, in the rural economy of Germany, the contradiction between the ruler and the ruled was increasingly intensified, and the apparent peace and harmony could not be maintained.
The pastor is responsible for the ideological and spiritual aspects of the residents of the town and builds the moral values of the residents, but the people in this town are ignorant, ruthless, despicable, and extremely immoral. The doctor and the midwife committed adultery and conspired to kill his wife; he made the midwife not have an abortion and gave birth to a handicapped child. Later, he simply thought that the midwife was old, ugly, and smelly. And the midwife knew that the doctor was doing monstrous things to his biological daughter, but in order to continue to have sex with the doctor, he kept silent. When the housekeeper saw the babysitter, he wanted to spend other people's delicious tofu from the babysitter. The emptiness and hypocrisy of religion have no effect on the townspeople. The more moral a society is, the more moral it is. This is quite similar to Heaven.
In the social environment where the economy and spirit are unbearable, the small environment reflected in the family is equally dark. The fathers are domineering, rude, and unreasonable paternalistic discipline in the family, and they will slap, whip and other corporal punishment if they disagree. Severe discipline is counterproductive in the child, driving the child on the way of the little beast. The pastor's children were punished for dinner when they came home late; the eldest son, Martin, masturbated and slept with his hands bound. The boy in "The Beautiful Sicily" masturbates when he is a teenager, his father takes him to a brothel, the same problem, the way the two fathers deal with it is so different; the priest also wears white ribbons on the eldest daughters Clare and Martin, as in "The Scarlet Letter" Discipline in a humiliating way when the chest is embroidered with a red A.
The pastor disciplines the child in a way that is contrary to human nature, both mentally and physically. Once the child grows up enough to compete, he will retreat, and he will become more and more stern and false. A typical example is the eldest daughter, Clare, who went home and stabbed her beloved sparrow to death with her father's knife and pinned it to a cross on his desk because her father had openly taught her a lesson. The pastor knew that the eldest daughter was barbaric and cruel and had not been educated well, so he compromised and continued to baptize her. In the latter part of the video, the teacher politely pointed out to the pastor that when the series of violent incidents in the village were all caused by his daughter and children, he knew it was the truth, but he pressed him with force and took a bite. At this point, the teachings he used to educate others all day did not work for him at all. The so-called upper beam is not right and the lower beam is crooked, how can you lead by example in such an adult world?
Note that the younger the child in the movie, the less contaminated it is—the priest's youngest son, who will go to rescue the injured bird, and then give the bird to his father to comfort the father who lost it; Sigi, the son of the baron , with blond hair, was beaten by the group of children and went out with his mother for a few months before returning home. After being called by his friends, he rushed to play, and he had no heart or grudge. Moreover, this child is ingenious, the two sons of the housekeeper can't play the flute in tune, and what he does is the sound of the flute. Although the film is stern and serious, it is still very funny to see it here: the two sons of the housekeeper are so jealous that they have to throw the capable people into the river. ... The two sons of the housekeeper were also very jealous of their youngest brother, and wanted to freeze him to death by opening the window in winter. They didn't like their younger brother. I wonder if it was because of the traditional hereditary method at that time? Property is passed on from male to female, one more brother and one more family fortune?
Civilization and enlightenment should really rely on education, and the teacher, the narrator, is the only person with integrity among adults in the film, but he is the weaker part of the village, just an invited worker, similar to a babysitter. status and treatment. Clare confronts him when the kids don't listen to his discipline; the pastor blatantly threatens the teacher with knocking him out of his job. After the war, teachers turned to the tailoring industry and gave up the important task of transforming people. It is also an elegy for intellectuals. Society and the environment do not respect teachers and education.
Social conflicts and family repression, energy and anger have nowhere to discharge, war has become a good outlet. Children grow into beasts, unleashing violence and sin in a logical and unbridled way on the battlefield.
Director Michael Haneke said of the film: Once people absolutely accept an idea unconditionally, they are 'dehumanized'. This is the source of terrorism.
Of course, the film is not just about Germany. Put it in Germany, it is the Nazis; put it in China, it is the Cultural Revolution; put it in Al Qaeda, it is September 11.
Haneke's film style is to let the audience pull away and observe from a distance: "Hidden Camera" observes the alienation and concealment of a family of three, "Fun Game" observes the torture of perverted killers and can't help, "Love" witnesses. The old couple was on the brink of death due to old age. "Hidden Camera" is very boring and fussy. The playback of the remote control of "Fun Game" teases the audience a little less serious. Although "Love" describes the cruel and helpless reality that every couple and everyone will face, But the force is too much, only "White Ribbon" is the most calm and profound.
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