This comes up during one of the panel discussions (also available on CZcams) with the director and actors from The Zone of Interest. I'd share a link if I knew exactly which one it was--there are several and all compelling.
Definitely a great movie. Love the way it's being told as well, the slow paced, meticulous narration reminds me of reading a novel. The ribbons make me think how they were later replaced by bands with a swastika or star of David, also superficial symbols of deemed values, not really reflecting the person wearing them. Any ideas about the mystery and meaning of the disappearing midwife and doctor with their children? I love such open ended movies.
JESUS MAN I GET SHOCKED IN THE ENDING OF MOVIE. Especially after knowing that the same actor who play school teacher is playing the main character at zone of interest
I recently rewatched The White Ribbon and I believe your analysis is mostly spot on. I do agree, that it is somewhat irritating that people refer to this movie as horror, I would rather call it a sociological thriller disguised as a period drama. There is something I'd like to add to the symbolism of the white ribbon the children are made to wear. Before the pastor punished the children he told them that their mother used to tie a white ribbon onto their clothes when they were very young, more or less at the age of toddlers. This may be my personal interpretation, but I saw the white ribbon less as a symbol of purity and more as a symbol of degradation the father used to make his teenage children feel small and powerless like toddlers. Later in the film, when the pastor suspected his daughter to cause the other children to fool around in class, he declares in front of the entire class that he will continue to make her wear the white ribbon, making it known to all her peers, that she misbehaved. You could argue that the wearing of the white ribbon therefore turns into a social punishment with a focus on public shaming rather than a symbol of virtue.
I didn’t know it was the same guy who made The Piano Teacher (2001) and Caché (2005) until after I watched it. It makes perfect sense now. That shot of the bird…
Your comment at around 10:59 suggesting "it's a big claim to make that everyone is deceived and doesn't see things," and the film could be considered "cynical" in that respect. Well, of course, not everyone is deceived in the film, but considering the sort of group think going on in the village, and what Germany became some 25 years later, with tens of thousands wildly pledging their allegiance to Hitler in rallies across Germany - perhaps it isn't so cynical. It seems the vast majority of Germans chose not to see things and to be deceived. And those in the minority who knew better realized it was a lost cause and that they'd probably be in danger if they stayed, so they got out of Dodge if they had the means.
I just finished watching the film, and it was great. The cinematography,acting,writing are all perfect, the only issue I had with the film at points did get a little difficult to follow with the constant jumping around of characters. Overall great film, 9/10 SPOILER WARNING: From what I’ve gathered from this first viewing (and let me know if I’m wrong or misinterpreted the message of film) I think film is about the root of evil. Through out the film,horrible crimes are committed by what we guess are the children of the village.From the the beginning of the film children are first viewed as just regular kids, but as the film goes on, we see what these kids go through behind closed doors, whether it be how they themselves are disciplined or just dealing with the The way children treated by their parents feels like a direct result of the crimes being committed as act of getting back at the adults rather than being straight up honest with them.The adults are no better ether, they tend to be the ones inherently causing the chaos, almost acting like children themselves instead of handing things like adults,like accusing the only nice person to the children ( that being the nanny Eva) or spreading rumors and lies causing hatred to be amongst the youth. That’s two cents on the films meaning, am I right, am I wrong? Let me know, but I’m definitely watching this again.
I think the point of the film was that adults are always sinners, so so too the kids. The difference here is that the children will be Nazis. So? Who cares? The idea of a difference obviously would be the only point. The point is children who are sinned against, cynical, not judged, ignored, defended, shown they are not important (WWI is the focus now), and finally destitute (depression) shall do anything. It is akin to saying there is always the atheist is there not? Sure. And the lad may grow up to return to faith, but what if the circumstances become different? Sort of like saying Nietche, Marx, Darwin, and Freud would lead to nothing of importance without the environment to feed it. The problem with the film may not be that the idea was bad. Rather it may be that the film was not focused enough on the point to be seen by the audience.
The brilliance is you feel you know, while knowing the main character does not know, so that when he reveals you feel just as worthy of the words since you don't actually know and yet you know without justice the future might be bad.
Most of my top Westerns are Italian. For American Westerns if you want good movies maybe Once Upon a Time in the West (more or less counts as American), My Darling Clementine, The Oxbow Incident, The Big Country, Unforgiven, and ofc Zinnemann's High Noon. For more interesting movies maybe Johnny Guitar, The Searchers, Heaven's Gate, and The Misfits. Then for things that are only kinda westerns maybe Dances with Wolves, Westworld, Waterworld (not good), etc
@@TobinFitzthum Thanks I’ve seen a few of them but the rest look good, you might have seen it but The Shootist is a pretty good one that I liked more than most of the popular ones. Stagecoach didn’t really do much for me.
@@CodPatrol Yeah I've wanted to watch The Shootist for a while. There are stories about Orson Welles watching Stagecoach like 40 times while he was making Citizen Kane, but when you watch it now it might not be obvious why. To some extent made obsolete by everything that it set the stage for.
The White Ribbon is one of the creepiest movies I've ever seen. If you don't know history you probably won't understand it.
I watched The White Ribbon years ago, 2009 I think. It shook me to the core, my head buzzed for hours after.
Haneke is a gigachad
Tremendous analysis. Would love to know your reaction to The Zone of Interest here in 2024 and the connection to The White Ribbon
Thank god it wasn't just me who thought that
The same actor in both movies. I didn’t know that.
This comes up during one of the panel discussions (also available on CZcams) with the director and actors from The Zone of Interest. I'd share a link if I knew exactly which one it was--there are several and all compelling.
Definitely a great movie. Love the way it's being told as well, the slow paced, meticulous narration reminds me of reading a novel.
The ribbons make me think how they were later replaced by bands with a swastika or star of David, also superficial symbols of deemed values, not really reflecting the person wearing them.
Any ideas about the mystery and meaning of the disappearing midwife and doctor with their children?
I love such open ended movies.
JESUS MAN
I GET SHOCKED IN THE ENDING OF MOVIE.
Especially after knowing that the same actor who play school teacher is playing the main character at zone of interest
I recently rewatched The White Ribbon and I believe your analysis is mostly spot on. I do agree, that it is somewhat irritating that people refer to this movie as horror, I would rather call it a sociological thriller disguised as a period drama.
There is something I'd like to add to the symbolism of the white ribbon the children are made to wear. Before the pastor punished the children he told them that their mother used to tie a white ribbon onto their clothes when they were very young, more or less at the age of toddlers. This may be my personal interpretation, but I saw the white ribbon less as a symbol of purity and more as a symbol of degradation the father used to make his teenage children feel small and powerless like toddlers. Later in the film, when the pastor suspected his daughter to cause the other children to fool around in class, he declares in front of the entire class that he will continue to make her wear the white ribbon, making it known to all her peers, that she misbehaved. You could argue that the wearing of the white ribbon therefore turns into a social punishment with a focus on public shaming rather than a symbol of virtue.
yeah akin to a certain scarlet letter. it's interesting how shame and morality have been linked together in the past.
I didn’t know it was the same guy who made The Piano Teacher (2001) and Caché (2005) until after I watched it. It makes perfect sense now. That shot of the bird…
Your comment at around 10:59 suggesting "it's a big claim to make that everyone is deceived and doesn't see things," and the film could be considered "cynical" in that respect. Well, of course, not everyone is deceived in the film, but considering the sort of group think going on in the village, and what Germany became some 25 years later, with tens of thousands wildly pledging their allegiance to Hitler in rallies across Germany - perhaps it isn't so cynical. It seems the vast majority of Germans chose not to see things and to be deceived. And those in the minority who knew better realized it was a lost cause and that they'd probably be in danger if they stayed, so they got out of Dodge if they had the means.
I just finished watching the film, and it was great. The cinematography,acting,writing are all perfect, the only issue I had with the film at points did get a little difficult to follow with the constant jumping around of characters. Overall great film, 9/10
SPOILER WARNING:
From what I’ve gathered from this first viewing (and let me know if I’m wrong or misinterpreted the message of film) I think film is about the root of evil. Through out the film,horrible crimes are committed by what we guess are the children of the village.From the the beginning of the film children are first viewed as just regular kids, but as the film goes on, we see what these kids go through behind closed doors, whether it be how they themselves are disciplined or just dealing with the The way children treated by their parents feels like a direct result of the crimes being committed as act of getting back at the adults rather than being straight up honest with them.The adults are no better ether, they tend to be the ones inherently causing the chaos, almost acting like children themselves instead of handing things like adults,like accusing the only nice person to the children ( that being the nanny Eva) or spreading rumors and lies causing hatred to be amongst the youth. That’s two cents on the films meaning, am I right, am I wrong? Let me know, but I’m definitely watching this again.
I think the point of the film was that adults are always sinners, so so too the kids.
The difference here is that the children will be Nazis. So? Who cares? The idea of a difference obviously would be the only point. The point is children who are sinned against, cynical, not judged, ignored, defended, shown they are not important (WWI is the focus now), and finally destitute (depression) shall do anything.
It is akin to saying there is always the atheist is there not? Sure. And the lad may grow up to return to faith, but what if the circumstances become different? Sort of like saying Nietche, Marx, Darwin, and Freud would lead to nothing of importance without the environment to feed it.
The problem with the film may not be that the idea was bad. Rather it may be that the film was not focused enough on the point to be seen by the audience.
The brilliance is you feel you know, while knowing the main character does not know, so that when he reveals you feel just as worthy of the words since you don't actually know and yet you know without justice the future might be bad.
Just watched it and loved what you had to say. Great movie
Tobin what would be your top 10 favourite westerns if you had to make a list? American I mean, nothing based in Japan or made by Kurosawa.
Most of my top Westerns are Italian. For American Westerns if you want good movies maybe Once Upon a Time in the West (more or less counts as American), My Darling Clementine, The Oxbow Incident, The Big Country, Unforgiven, and ofc Zinnemann's High Noon. For more interesting movies maybe Johnny Guitar, The Searchers, Heaven's Gate, and The Misfits. Then for things that are only kinda westerns maybe Dances with Wolves, Westworld, Waterworld (not good), etc
@@TobinFitzthum Thanks I’ve seen a few of them but the rest look good, you might have seen it but The Shootist is a pretty good one that I liked more than most of the popular ones. Stagecoach didn’t really do much for me.
@@CodPatrol Yeah I've wanted to watch The Shootist for a while. There are stories about Orson Welles watching Stagecoach like 40 times while he was making Citizen Kane, but when you watch it now it might not be obvious why. To some extent made obsolete by everything that it set the stage for.
@@TobinFitzthum yeah I heard about that before I watched stagecoach, he got loads of inspiration from it