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The White Ribbon

The 21st Century’s 100 greatest films (BBC)

Das weisse Band

2009

Michael Haneke

Susanne Lothar, Ulrich Tukur, Leonard Proxauf, Burghart Klaußner ...

7.2

37,928

Drama. Mystery Year 1913. Some inexplicable events disturb the quiet life of a German village, just before World War I. A cable has been put up to trip the doctor riding his horse, a barn is set on fire, two children are abducted and tortured... The schoolteacher observes, investigates and little by little discovers the incredible truth.

	Author	Review
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Don't let anyone tell you too much about this spellbinder (...) a toxic blossom of images that burn into your memory. (...) This haunting film never pushes itself on you. (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of four)"	POS
United Kingdom	Sukhdev Sandhu Telegraph	"With The White Ribbon, [Haneke] has out-done himself and produced the best film of his career"	POS
United States	Kyle Smith New York Post	"‘The White Ribbon” is one of the finest films that ever repelled me, a holiday in the abyss."	POS
United States	Todd McCarthy Variety	"Immaculately crafted in beautiful black-and-white and entirely absorbing through its longish running time, Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” nonetheless proves a difficult film to entirely embrace"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"A superb and disturbing film, Michael Haneke's vision of pre-first world war Germany offers no easy answers (...) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Peter Brunette The Hollywood Reporter	"Haneke's trademark sociopolitical critique is now turned toward history, in a stunningly photographed and deliberately paced film. (...) It's a superb cinematic work and an appropriately serious one"	POS
United Kingdom	Dave Calhoun Time Out	"It's [Haneke's] least aggressive and most mature film - a masterpiece from a director who is increasingly making a habit of them."	POS
United Kingdom	Derek Malcolm London Evening Standard	"As strong and memorable as anything Haneke has previously accomplished, an austere and fastidious masterpiece"	POS
United States	Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"The movie is like Village of the Damned directed by Ingmar Bergman, only without Bergman’s intensity."	NEU
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"The quintessential art film: slow, demanding, and rewarding for those willing to put forth the intellectual effort necessary to puzzle out its ambiguities."	POS

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