First Hit: Although long and a bit tedious, it is a powerful view of German culture leading up to WW I.
The symptoms and expressions of WWI and WWII are well documented in films.
However, there are few, if any, films attempting to identify why Germans were susceptible for becoming primary instigators of both these world wars.
This film takes an earnest stab at identifying the cause and effect of how children were raised and educated in a small German village.. The story is narrated by the village’s school teacher who recalls a look back at many unresolved incidents in the village.
His voice gives us the impression that he is now a much older man. He speaks of remembering what he thought was the initial incident; when the town doctor, riding back from his usual equestrian riding lesson, is thrown from his horse. The horse had tripped on a wire strung between two trees on his riding path. The fall causes him to suffer a broken shoulder and arm.
The Baron of the town’s land pushes the town's folk for a strong harvest. As tradition has it, he must share what they harvest from his land but some people think the Barron is too stingy and destroys the Barron’s cabbage patch. In another scene a barn is burned to the ground.
In another scene a father is killed, followed by the torture of young boys and there is also child molestation. All this festers in the town shielded by righteousness. Additionally, children are disciplined at home in cruel and harsh manners. Discipline, order, and blind obedience to the adults and people in authority is the order of the day.
The Baron, personally affected by the incidents, funds finding the culprits. With no luck, he calls in the police from nearest town. The answers aren’t forthcoming until one day, the young retarded boy of the town midwife tells his mother who the culprits are.
She isn’t heard from again. At the same time the teacher, and narrator of the story, figures out the answer as well.
Michael Haneke created tension and wonder throughout the film. At times I thought he stayed with scenes too long but, taken as a totality, this was a very strong and powerful film.
Overall: This film was thought provoking, insightful and strongly captured an idea and concept as to why the German people were susceptible to being strongly involved in the two world wars of the last century.