Bea says: If you've ever watched an episode of Lark Rise to Candelford and found its tweeness just too sickly sweet for words - then this is the film for you!
Das weisse Band, shot entirely in black and white, and with absolutely no soundtrack at all, other than the singing of Protestant hymns in church and a bit of fiddling and dancing at the Harvest festival, begins in a beautful and peaceful north German village in 1913. However, over the two and half hours that we watch the film, the rural idyll is completely shattered by revelations of grinding poverty, murder, accidents, suicide, child abuse, incest, paedophilia and possible child killers.
It is certainly gripping stuff, and well acted and shot, but very, very grim - Cecil and I saw this late last Wednesday evening after a quick meal, feeling all was well with the world. We didn't feel that way when we came out. The story is narrated by one of the key characters - the village schoolmaster, who begins to investigate some of the strange accidents, abductions, beatings and murders that take place. We also follow his bumbling romance with the local laird's nanny, conducted in the shadow of WW1. However, by the film's end we are none the wiser as to the reason for, or perpetrators of, the incidents, nor are we given any information as to whether the schoolmaster and nanny every married - all we discover is that he survived WW1.
The best and most memorable scene for me - the church choir singing Bach. That is one moment in the film I did enjoy - but probably the only one.
It is not a bad film - just so depressing.
**
Cecil says: If you fancy a good belly laugh or some quick-witted dialogue, or a mystery with a quirky twist to the plot, this film is definitely not for you. I'm not one of those film reviewers who likes to search for 'meaning' or 'purpose' in a film. But I left the cinema after this one thinking: but, why? Why did this guy make this film? What was the point he was making? And why have I spent over two hours of my life watching a film where we don't even know at the end 'whodunnit'...
There was something hypnotic about the German in the film - very clear, very slow, very...rural. I did find myself listening rather than reading the subtitles, whereas in most subtitled films I try to taking in the action AND reading the subtitles, even if I follow the dialogue perfectly.
The complete lack of soundtrack also felt significant. Village life in 1913 after all must have been pretty quiet: no cars, no police sirens, no radios blaring out music. And the silence certainly added to the starkness of the atmosphere.
What was odd, though, was that the lack of theme music took away all desire to stay and read the credits, whereas I am usually one of those film geeks who stays to the bitter end to see every detail of what was filmed where, what music was used, who the gaffer was etc. But then maybe it was just the utter bleakness of the film that made me just want to get out of there.
The German title of the film is actually: Das weisse Band. Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte. This was no children's story in the usual sense of the word, but it did tend to see life from a child's perspective (the bullying, the punishments, the permissions sought or denied, the pet animals, the rivalries, the pecking order) and I guess when you are a child, the world can seem as sinister as this film made it appear.
**
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