The White Ribbon (2009)

The White Ribbon is a 2009 Austrian-German film, released in black and white, written and directed by Michael Haneke. The drama darkly depicts society and family in a northern German village just before World War I.

Austrian director Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon," looks at the Hitler generation when they were in knee pants. A small Protestant village maintains a strict hierarchical order, where everyone knows his place, yet an inhuman moral code holds sway. Again, as in his "Cache," much is hidden, and Haneke is never one to resolve the story's mysteries. The youngsters have embraced the dark side of the adults' values, and he doesn't have to explain where this will lead.

Das weiße Band, Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (literally, "The White Ribbon, a German Children's Story") premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May 2009 and won the Palme d'Or, followed by positive reviews and several other major awards, including the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film received two nominations for Academy Awards: 2009 Best Foreign Language Film (representing Germany) and 2009 Best Cinematography (Christian Berger).