Preparation for confirmation
When we try to convey the plot of The White Ribbon, we always start from "a series of strange events in a Protestant village." But after retelling the facts, our version of the story dissolves into the dark corners of the most bizarre conjectures and assumptions, picked up from all those cut-off threads of narrative that Haneke deliberately leaves in almost every minute of screen time.
No one will agree that the accidents that occurred to the doctor, peasant woman and the son of the baron, nothing unites. It is on this agreement that the director builds his dialogue with the viewer, connecting such an outstanding character as a young school teacher for him. The German teacher as a storyteller is a very non-random figure. Who better than him may be interested to take the place of the researcher of the social mechanism of the village, and with tiresome pedantry to recall the smallest details of the events forgotten by all a century ago.
It is important to understand that the social mechanism, the undeniable rules that govern the relations of the members of this small community, is the main object chosen for study. These rules apply to different members of the community to varying degrees. To a large extent, they regulate the lives of those who determine the whole way of life - members of the families of the pastor and manager. In the lesser case, the peasants, whose wealth depends on following these rules. Finally, there are heroes who are free to be guided by their own considerations: a teacher with his critical thinking, a baroness with her free will.
The teacher’s story breaks the social mechanism into a clear three-color palette.
The white world of socially favored relations is demonstrated by harvesting, solemn confirmation, illuminated by the office of a pastor who receives his own children in it with all official rigor, and the celebration of Harvest Day in a wide square. The white world unites the best of this remote village – the beauty of high manners and the external piety of citizens. This is the world that everyone can see.
In the gloomy-gray world of closed doors, it is customary to solve conflict issues that cannot be brought out. Something that's between you and me. In the relevant scenes, the doctor humiliates the midwife, the baron learns unpleasant news from his wife, and the pastor receives in the teacher's office. Remarkable detail: in all episodes, one of the characters somehow approaches the window, as if trying to insure against a casual look from the outside.
In the black world, someone pulls wire and beats a mentally disabled child. These scenes are not allowed to be seen by anyone. And the question “Who?” in this case will be more than irrelevant. Exactly as Clara perceives him, in one of the last scenes talking to the teacher. This question cannot be asked in the white world.
The key episode to understanding the "strange events" I see is Clara's confirmation scene. Impeccable behavior of which for some reason does not give rest to her father, publicly denouncing her in various trifles. After ostentatious reflection at the ceremony, the father agrees with the tricolor palette of the world order.
Michael Haneke asks, “Why is this happening?” at the best time of his life, as he prepares to become an adult. In 30 years, everyone will ask themselves this question, but to answer it, they will have to remember that sometimes the purest and whitest symbol in our world is an empty symbol tied to someone’s hair.
10 out of 10
Original
