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The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band) (2009)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 133
Fresh: 113 | Rotten: 20

The White Ribbon effectively utilizes tension and a bleak atmosphere to deliver a thought-provoking examination of nascent fascism.

Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 25
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 5

The White Ribbon effectively utilizes tension and a bleak atmosphere to deliver a thought-provoking examination of nascent fascism.

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Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 87,050

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Movie Info

In a village in Protestant northern Germany, on the eve of World War I, the children of a church and school run by the village schoolteacher and their families experience a series of bizarre incidents that inexplicably assume the characteristics of a punishment ritual. Who could be responsible for such bizarre transgressions? Leonie Benesch, Josef Bierbichler, and Rainer Bock star in director Michael Haneke's Palm d'Or-winning period drama. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

R, 2 hr. 24 min.

Art House & International, Drama

Directed By: Michael Haneke

Written By: Michael Haneke

In Theaters: Dec 30, 2009 Wide

On DVD: Jun 29, 2010

Box Office:$2.1M

Sony Pictures Classics

Writer-director Michael Haneke doesn't pull any punches, but then he doesn't throw any wild ones, either. His filmmaking shows precisely the sort of obsession with control that the movie itself is denouncing. Interesting, you've got to admit.

February 19, 2010 Full Review Source: Detroit News

| Comment

Tom Long

Detroit News

Top Critic

Haneke tells this tale a bit too patiently for my taste. But the metaphors are unmistakable, as is the power of the film's message.

February 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel

| Comment

Roger Moore

Orlando Sentinel

Top Critic

The White Ribbon lunges hungrily for serious art-film credibility. Don't be fooled.

February 12, 2010 Full Review Source: Washington Post

| Comments (4)

Ann Hornaday

Washington Post

Top Critic

The White Ribbon doesn't resonate at all. The filmmaker's doom-laden view of humanity -- that we are all unredeemably awful creatures, easily swayed to do dastardly things -- oozes with contempt.

January 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

| Comments (2)

Steven Rea

Philadelphia Inquirer

Top Critic

The quintessential art film: slow, demanding, and rewarding for those willing to put forth the intellectual effort necessary to puzzle out its ambiguities.

January 20, 2010 Full Review Source: ReelViews

| Comment

James Berardinelli

ReelViews

Top Critic

I don't question Haneke's craft: it's his ideas that get under my skin.

January 19, 2010 Full Review Source: At the Movies

| Comment

A.O. Scott

At the Movies

Top Critic

This film is a total drag to watch. It is slow. It is dark. It is depressing, and it seems as though it is never going to end. It is torture to sit through this film. It runs 144 minutes and seems twice that long.

January 19, 2011 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope

| Comments (2)

Robert Roten

Laramie Movie Scope

The White Ribbon is Michael Haneke's masterpiece. It is not a movie about abstract concepts or a director's power over his characters - well, at least it's not just about those things.

October 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Quickflix

| Comment

Simon Miraudo

Quickflix

Un inquietante cuadro social, filmado en riguroso blanco y negro, y una reflexi�n sombr�a y perturbadora sobre el origen del mal, o al menos de cierto tipo de males.

October 7, 2010 Full Review Source: Uruguay Total

| Comment

Enrique Buchichio

Uruguay Total

Up close, it's a blur of meticulous details that don't quite make sense; but step back and its towering ambitions become indelibly apparent.

August 26, 2010 Full Review Source: Flicks.co.nz

| Comment

Matt Glasby

Flicks.co.nz

A direct and simple human lesson -- that negative reinforcement creates negative consequences.

July 17, 2010 Full Review Source: Window to the Movies

| Comment

Jeffrey Chen

Window to the Movies

Haneke knows how violence seeps into every recess of our lives, and he evokes it not to titillate, but to engage and challenge

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk

| Comment

James Kendrick

Q Network Film Desk

Both sexes suffer from what Elias Canetti identified in his book Crowds and Power as 'the sting,' a psychological hurt (bullying, abuse) that must be exorcised in reenactment. [Blu-ray]

July 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews

| Comment

Peter Canavese

Groucho Reviews Source: Groucho Reviews

Haneke makes his way through this complex and knotty subject matter with a staggeringly effortless grace. As an expression of philosophy, it's profound and thought-provoking; as a work of cinema, it is flawless.

July 4, 2010 Full Review Source: DCist

| Comment

Ian Buckwalter

DCist

... while I appreciate... the unnerving atmosphere of punitive power and calculated cruelty under the carefully managed pose of piety, I find his sensibility sour and cynical...

July 1, 2010 Full Review Source: Seanax.com

| Comment

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

Executed at an incredibly high level of craft and with an off-putting degree of self-confidence.

June 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central

| Comment

Bryant Frazer

Film Freak Central

This high-falutin' Nazi origin story is practically a masterpiece of subtlety in the finger-wagging blowhard Michael Haneke's canon.

June 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

| Comment

Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

As with most of Michael Haneke's films, a chill hangs in the air of The White Ribbon, the constant threat of upheaval eventually lulling you into a tired state of alertness.

May 25, 2010 Full Review Source: Concrete Playground

| Comment

Kate Jinx

Concrete Playground

Haneke has made a deeply unsettling and gravely beautiful film that tells us very little. But the performances are astonishing, and the faces of the children, caught in long, static close-ups, may haunt you for a long time.

May 10, 2010 Full Review Source: The Australian

| Comment

Evan Williams

The Australian

A tantalising, perhaps slightly frustrating film, but a very impressive one.

May 7, 2010 Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia)

| Comment

David Stratton

At the Movies (Australia)

Unlike conventional thrillers, this film does not restore a moral order to the universe. Rather, it questions it. It must be seen.

May 7, 2010 Full Review Source: MovieTime, ABC Radio National

| Comment

Julie Rigg

MovieTime, ABC Radio National

At his best, as he is with White Ribbon, Haneke's fusion of art and ideas is unsurpassed.

May 6, 2010 Full Review Source: sbs.com.au

| Comment

Mary Colbert

sbs.com.au

These disturbing incidents pound the unsuspecting viewer into complete submission. The luminous beauty of the black-and-white cinematography framing the ugly world suggested here only serves to further shock the senses.

May 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Courier Mail (Australia)

| Comment

Leigh Paatsch

Courier Mail (Australia)

Far from enjoyable escapism, The White Ribbon is nonetheless utterly compelling and quite beautiful in its unsettling presentation of this prosaic evil.

May 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald

| Comment

Giles Hardie

Sydney Morning Herald

he White Ribbon is unsettling, disturbing and enigmatic; it's often horrifying and occasionally eerily beautiful.

May 5, 2010 Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia)

| Comment

Mark Demetrius

FILMINK (Australia)

As always, Michael Haneke ensures that no audience feels comfortable, using truncated scenes, incompletely framed shots, no underscore music as tools to create the tone and the sense of time and place

April 24, 2010 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile

| Comment

Andrew L. Urban

Urban Cinefile

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band)

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Michael Haneke has pushed the bounds of what is and could be considered going too far in the film medium, which is his whole mantra. He brings us The White Ribbon, something like if you took elements from The Crucible, Schindler's List, and Jesus Camp blended it together, and put it all in German with a drained out

September 27, 2011

Matthew Roe

Super Reviewer

A nuanced, demanding film about small-town secrets that rivals the best stories of Alice Munro or William Faulkner, in which characters' lines are cutting, doom is just around the corner, and the individuals' respective stories continue to surprise as each reveals itself to be related to the others in larger frame, the

July 9, 2010

Daniel Perry

Super Reviewer

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Latest News for The White Ribbon (Das weisse Band)

December 30, 2009:

Critics Consensus: The White Ribbon Is Certified Fresh
The final week of the year brings no wide releases, but Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner The White...