The White Ribbon (Das Weiss Band)

THE WHITE RIBBON

Up For:
Best Achievement in Cinematography
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year

Though not viewing any of the other foreign language films this year, I still believe this film is strong enough to win.

The White Ribbon never feels like a foreign language film. Though a period piece set in black and white, the film could just as easily take place at anytime, any place (at times this film felt very much older).

The eeriness of the film is the a huge component in keeping the viewer absorbed. Two hours of subtitles and black & white could easily bore a person to death, but the film had so much more going for it to keep a person's interest intact.

The story was complex and twisting, keeping you in the middle a mystery the entire film, even through the end, where there are few answers given, simply assumptions made by the viewer from the information that was given.

Never have I seen so many wonderfully amazing performances by so many children. The young children could break your heart. The girls were gorgeous and could melt your heart, or they could be cold and concise. The boys were rascals one moment, but vigilantes the next. The children, by far, out-acted the adults in the film.

With no expectations going into the film, finding that the story was so dark, I was reminded of stories like Children of the Corn and Tommyknockers, without the supernatural feel. I felt as though anything and everything could happen in the film's plot, with deaths and injuries inflicted around every corner.

The film was subtle, never over the top, but never anti-climatic. There was a new relationship, or new cruel twist that derived to keep the German town it portrayed in constant array. By the end, you feel as though you lived in that town for years.

The costumes of the film were spot-on, the acting was unexpected, and the cinematography earned its nomination, almost seeing the color in the black & white, particularly the cut scenes of nature, where the swaying wheat or the trees almost seemed to pop out of the screen with such brilliance.

By far, from what the film was on paper, I did not expect to enjoy the film as much as I did and will cause me to see more from this director. I suggest that if you enjoy films like The Orphanage and Pan's Labrynth, along with the edginess of Children of the Corn, this is a great film to indulge yourself with.

(3 FILMS TO GO)