Whether or not it gets a best picture Academy Award or BAFTA nomination, Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or-winning The White Ribbon may end up as the best-reviewed film of 2009. At least in the United Kingdom.
"It is typical of Haneke, though, that he makes such strong suggestions so indirectly and purely through the sheer brilliant, precise power of his characterisations and superb conjuring up of an astonishing sense of time and place." Dave Calhoun, Time Out
"The White Ribbon has an absolute confidence and mastery of its own cinematic language, and the performances Haneke elicits from his first-rate cast, particularly the children, are eerily perfect." Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.co.uk
"White Ribbon"s made from material that haunts, grips and immerses." Totalfilm.com
"A visually stunning thinkpiece." Empire
"Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or-winning The White Ribbon shows the master of austere rigour at the very height of his powers." Wendy Ide, Timesonline.co.uk
Set in a small German village beset by strange, violent acts right before the outbreak of World War I, The White Ribbon shows how the Germany of the 1910s became the Germany of the Nazi era.
In the cast: German Film Award winners Ulrich Tukur and Susanne Lothar, plus Burghart Klaußner and Christian Friedel.
Artificial Eye will release The White Ribbon at the Curzon Mayfair and across the UK on November 13. Sony Pictures Classics will distribute the film in the US beginning on Dec. 30.
Photos: Courtesy of PPR Online Press
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