In recent years, independent filmmakers have been churning out stories that major studios are hesitant to throw money behind. The studios often feel that such films are too artsy for the mass audience, and as a result, will leave theaters abandoned in favor of some big-budget spectacle where things explode and unshaven men flaunt their bravado.

The case of 2009?s The White Ribbon is slightly different. It was stunted mostly by its own production, which took over ten years. Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke originally wrote the script as a television mini-series, but pushed it aside after five years without a willing investor. Finally, the Austrian Film Institute, along with additional funds procured from France and Germany, helped the film transition from an idea to reality.

Premiering in May 2009 at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, The White Ribbon is set in Eichwald, Germany before the start of World War I. The village by is under a strict moralistic regime, which the local authorities feverishly enforce but personally disregard. The pastor (played by Burghart Klaußner) condemns his children for impure thoughts by making them wear a white ribbon as a reminder of their deviance. It is almost a direct reference to the story of Hester Prynne, the convicted adulteress in Nathaniel Hawthorne?s celebrated novel, The Scarlet Letter. The white ribbons, like the ?A? worn by Prynne, are meant to be decorative implications of guilt.

The village is soon plagued by a series of strange happenings, including unexplained deaths, disappearances, and random acts of violence. Suspicions prompt the school teacher (played by Christian Friedel) to confront the pastor with a theory that some of the children are to blame for the recent misfortunes. Emotions run high and the story culminates with Austria?Hungary declaring war on Serbia. At close, nothing has been resolved.

After its debut at Cannes, The White Ribbon was finally released theatrically in Austria on September 25, 2009. A limited, German theatrical release followed in subsequent months. Sony Pictures Classics distributed the film for American audiences in December 2009.

The film is considered to be a commentary on terrorism in its crudest form, that being, tyranny inflicted for religious and political reasons. In that regard, the setting takes a back seat to the points being made by the filmmaker. In fact, the location could be post-war America, pre-war Europe, or modern-day China. The viewer is meant to focus on the hidden agendas which sometimes turn human beings into animals for the good of an unseen cause. The White Ribbon echoes the sentiments of such films as 2002?s The Magdalene Sisters, which is set in an asylum run by an Irish Catholic sisterhood. The institution serves as a prison for girls who have disobeyed the harsh moralistic code of society. Punishments range from physical discipline to working conditions which leave the girls broken in body and spirit. The White Ribbon employs Eichwald as its prison and the stern leaders within as its prison guards.

Sony Pictures Classics released The White Ribbon on DVD in June 2010. There are no bonus features present. However, with the film?s 2009 Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography, respectively, and as a 2009 Golden Globe Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, it is not unreasonable to assume that a special edition DVD with additional features is in the cards.  

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