The latest film by the provocative Austrian director Michael Haneke (Funny Games, Caché, The Piano Teacher) is The White Ribbon, which won the Palme d’Or for best film at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Set in a small German village just before World War I, The White Ribbon is about a series of suspicious accidents and how the villagers respond to them. Among the villagers are various class, gender and generational conflicts that escalate when the Baron, the village’s main landowner and employer, discovers that his son has been kidnapped and tortured.

Visually the film is startlingly brilliant with some of the crispest black-and-white cinematography you are likely to ever see. Much of the film is shot in deep focus with no grain present on the screen whatsoever. The focus, exposure and contrast in the cinematography are the work of pure genius. The White Ribbon is a great technical achievement, and Haneke hasn’t lost his power to confront the audience with his skilful handling of dialogue and strategically knowing what to show and what not to show for maximum effect.

Thomas Caldwell, 2009, Cinema Autopsy