Drama · Mystery
German (Das weiße Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte)
2009 · Directed by Michael Haneke · 144 min
An old man recalls the year before the First World War, when he was the young schoolteacher in a Protestant village in northern Germany. A run of unexplained incidents unsettles the community. The film observes the village in cool black and white and holds its feelings at a distance.
Why it matters in cinema history
A defining film of late twentieth-century and twenty-first-century European art cinema, and a landmark of the German-language historical film that treats the road to catastrophe as a question of upbringing and social habit.
Watch with intention
Watch what the camera chooses not to show, and treat every silence and every closed door as part of the film's argument.
Save this film, rate it and keep your notes.
Free, no ads. Your journal, your lists, a Cine Guide that remembers you.
Create your free space
