tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post230421225700623808..comments2024-03-15T04:08:16.172-04:00Comments on Only the Cinema: The White RibbonEd Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-13711273116710895662013-03-06T17:24:31.991-05:002013-03-06T17:24:31.991-05:00I'm not sure if someone has mentioned this alr...I'm not sure if someone has mentioned this already, but I wanted to let you know that at one point you say the doctor's son asks the midwife about death, but that scene takes place between the boy and his sister Anni. Just thought you should know in case you want to change it. Otherwise, great review and interpretation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-67033092820672492942011-02-22T15:24:25.370-05:002011-02-22T15:24:25.370-05:00Thanks, Brent. I didn't have those problems — ...Thanks, Brent. I didn't have those problems — or rather, I didn't think they were problems, since the film is meant to be unrelenting in its austerity, it's meant to slowly draw you in and leave you feeling exhausted at the end. It's not exactly a pleasant experience, but it is a fascinating one.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-32299029513355133042011-02-22T08:45:43.625-05:002011-02-22T08:45:43.625-05:00I liked this film and the black and white cinemato...I liked this film and the black and white cinematography is some of the best I've seen. I reviewed this film on my own blog but not as thoroughly as you!<br /> The only problem I found with it (as I've read with many others who have seen it) wis its length. It is a very slow moving film which, added to the unpleasant nature of it, left me feeling exhausted by the end.<br /> It is a bit BRENThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15953231992674091002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-76841365304849271632010-04-30T08:27:37.826-04:002010-04-30T08:27:37.826-04:00Jake, like you say, what's interesting about t...Jake, like you say, what's interesting about the film is how thoroughly it destablizes our sympathies, blurring the boundaries rather than delineating a clear separation between good and evil - appropriate for a film implicitly about the rise of fascism, since it's all about how supposedly good people can become complacent enablers of great evil.<br /><br />I can't say this film Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-60434906615579914782010-04-29T18:06:49.930-04:002010-04-29T18:06:49.930-04:00Excellent review. I'm finally getting around t...Excellent review. I'm finally getting around to reading this because I miraculously found a showing in Alabama. I agree with everything you say, and what impressed me about the film is how, for a film that sought to chart how a group of people became oppressors, it never set up boundaries between good and bad, implicating everyone. At the same time, he shows enough goodness to head off calls Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09078001374402400232noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-12343206678836056372010-02-01T18:15:07.534-05:002010-02-01T18:15:07.534-05:00Of course, Ed, I didn't mean to play Captain O...<i>Of course, Ed, I didn't mean to play Captain Obvious with my breakdown on the themes of the film. I simply was addressing Hokahey's statement that there were no answers in the film.<br /><br />Haeneke simply is trying to engage the viewer (and paradoxically, distance him/her emotionally) just enough to encourage him/her to seek the answers elsewhere, i.e. outside of the film proper.</iRichard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-86252574671764850532010-02-01T09:14:48.907-05:002010-02-01T09:14:48.907-05:00Haeneke simply is trying to engage the viewer (and...<i>Haeneke simply is trying to engage the viewer (and paradoxically, distance him/her emotionally) just enough to encourage him/her to seek the answers elsewhere, i.e. outside of the film proper</i>.<br /><br />That's a great way of putting it, Tony. Haneke does often walk that particular tightrope between engagement and distance, and always with an awareness of things external to the film, Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-43047001554486782312010-01-31T20:33:00.887-05:002010-01-31T20:33:00.887-05:00I think that video/media angle that is usually inc...I think that video/media angle that is usually included in a Haneke film is not absent here. Rather, it is replaced by the whole film itself, the images that it is made up of. After all, what we're watching is not actually in the "present", in storytelling terms, because we're really with the schoolteacher in the "future". The whole film <i>is</i> the record that may Carson Lundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10164962777812861110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-1034641500526432662010-01-31T12:20:33.607-05:002010-01-31T12:20:33.607-05:00Of course, Ed, I didn't mean to play Captain O...Of course, Ed, I didn't mean to play Captain Obvious with my breakdown on the themes of the film. I simply was addressing Hokahey's statement that there were no answers in the film.<br /><br />Haeneke simply is trying to engage the viewer (and paradoxically, distance him/her emotionally) just enough to encourage him/her to seek the answers elsewhere, i.e. outside of the film proper.Tony Dayoubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04632329277519635858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-46253221286740802982010-01-31T01:42:49.339-05:002010-01-31T01:42:49.339-05:00Thanks, Carson. I loved that scene with Eva's ...Thanks, Carson. I loved that scene with Eva's father, too. Very darkly funny in the way you can practically feel the schoolteacher's sexual frustration once he realizes he's not going to be able to marry Eva for at least a year.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-7071476055374343992010-01-31T01:38:42.711-05:002010-01-31T01:38:42.711-05:00Thanks, Gokul & jlee.
Tony, you're right ...Thanks, Gokul & jlee.<br /><br />Tony, you're right of course that the film is implicitly about the era leading up to the war years and the rise of Nazism. That seems pretty obvious, even without the inclusion of the German subtitle. I didn't get into that too much but it's clear that the film's subtext is: these are the small, local cruelties that could eventually lead to Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-7307327544343457662010-01-30T20:02:15.374-05:002010-01-30T20:02:15.374-05:00One interesting thing the period setting does is r...One interesting thing the period setting does is remove one of Haneke's more common devices - embedded images. Video, TV, etc. usually plays an integral part in his films, and in the flow of information in them - the way you can't always be sure whether the shots you are seeing in Cache are from the "film" or the video in the film, for example... Though here, I think the weepingsamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11885871104310819374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-75012996086170304592010-01-29T16:03:09.727-05:002010-01-29T16:03:09.727-05:00Awesome review. I had similar thoughts, although I...Awesome review. I had similar thoughts, although I didn't catch as much of the dark humor that you and some of the commenters point out, with the exception of the scene with the schoolteacher and his love interest's hyper-conservative, my-way-or-the highway father, which contained some great delivery. Call me a masochist, but I actually enjoy the relentless bleakness of this film.Carson Lundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10164962777812861110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-25461741165910714602010-01-29T14:42:06.934-05:002010-01-29T14:42:06.934-05:00The more I think about this film the more I like i...The more I think about this film the more I like it.<br /><br />What if Haneke had provided more conventional "solutions"? What if the perp -- or perps -- hae been revealed in the last act? Would it have explained everything? Certainly not. <br /><br />In fact a partial "explanation" of sorts is provided in the incredibly sinister scene where the pastor's daughter is shownDavidEhrensteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11016905507543736049noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-74795596348115451872010-01-29T13:58:23.484-05:002010-01-29T13:58:23.484-05:00...the film is about the mounting mysteries for wh...<i>...the film is about the mounting mysteries for which there are no answers. But, as I said on my post, I got a little bored with the mounting mysteries - especially when it seemed there would be no climax and no resolution.</i><br /><br />I wouldn't go as far as saying there is no resolution. As Mr. Ehrenstein implies with his comment above, I believe the answers lie in the narrator'sTony Dayoubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04632329277519635858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-34030326375770285572010-01-28T23:42:40.645-05:002010-01-28T23:42:40.645-05:00Thank you, I really enjoyed your words on this fil...Thank you, I really enjoyed your words on this film!jleehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13521335292751918594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-64574826411519540092010-01-28T21:56:39.604-05:002010-01-28T21:56:39.604-05:00Nice post !!!Nice post !!!Gokul Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07108757856377732660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-24767468485074096552010-01-28T21:56:13.183-05:002010-01-28T21:56:13.183-05:00Is the film out on DVD ?
I am willing to beg, borr...Is the film out on DVD ?<br />I am willing to beg, borrow or steal a copy ... Is it out atleast on the torrents stuff ??<br /><br />I am desperate !!!Gokul Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07108757856377732660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-20038866092749631082010-01-28T14:28:32.934-05:002010-01-28T14:28:32.934-05:00David, I know what you mean about the unexpected d...David, I know what you mean about the unexpected dark humor. I burst out laughing when I realized the pastor was talking about masturbation in his portentous speech to his son.<br /><br />Sam, I think the oppressiveness and emotional distance are integral to the film. I know you generally go for more emotionally involving works, but Haneke is quite intentionally maintaining more of an aloof tone Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-61478165502414311132010-01-28T13:48:04.938-05:002010-01-28T13:48:04.938-05:00Very enjoyable review, and you pinpoint clearly ho...Very enjoyable review, and you pinpoint clearly how the film is about the mounting mysteries for which there are no answers. But, as I said on my post, I got a little bored with the mounting mysteries - especially when it seemed there would be no climax and no resolution. <br /><br />But, I suppose one can pose theories - and that makes it a stimulating film to talk about. You delineate clearly Richard Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12397053921647421425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-21725526052480821252010-01-28T12:57:28.667-05:002010-01-28T12:57:28.667-05:00"The film is an angry indictment of the hypoc..."The film is an angry indictment of the hypocrisy and violence that resides within these seemingly decent folks, many of whom are obvious symbolic stand-ins for various social institutions, all of them equally corrupt: the aristocracy, the proletariat, the church.:<br /><br />Indeed. This is a magisterial review, no matter what one thinks of the film.(and the overwhelming majority think it&Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-9086297906212529122010-01-28T10:04:51.075-05:002010-01-28T10:04:51.075-05:00Excellent reading of a quietly relentless film. Wh...Excellent reading of a quietly relentless film. When the narrator announces the that Archduke Ferdinand has been assassinated at Sarajevo I almost burst into dark laughter.DavidEhrensteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11016905507543736049noreply@blogger.com