The White Ribbon

Director Michael Haneke, who directed the unrelentingly terrifying Funny Games, puts together a quiet, effective and disturbing film about tensions in a German village before the outbreak of WWI. Terrible things start happening to people, and there are a number of suspects, including the village children. Haneke makes the film more than a mystery. It’s a snapshot of a country before it entered three decades of turmoil and hell. It’s shot impressively in black and white, and features an excellent central performance by Christian Friedel.