THE WHITE RIBBON — CANNES 2009

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Winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes, director Michael Haneke's masterful drama about the origins of fascism unfolds in a rural German village in 1914 and leads up to World War I.

A local schoolteacher (Christian Friedel) comes to believe that a rash of accidents, some deadly, may be the work of one or more of his eerily withdrawn pupils.

Over the story, the teacher gradually hones in on the source of the violence that disrupts the town's placid Protestant surface. Shot in austere black-and-white and featuring a sprawling cast of characters reminiscent of a 19th century novel, "The White Ribbon" marks Haneke's most ambitious and unsettling investigation yet into the evils transmitted from parents to children.

The ribbon of the title is a Lutheran symbol of innocence and purity the pastor makes his two oldest children wear as a constant reminder of their moral obligations.

Haneke packs the film with suspense but methodically transfers the onus of responsibility for its thematic source to the audience, as he does with all of his films.

Michael Haneke is one of modern cinema's most effective provocateurs. Alongside filmmakers like Lars von Trier, Abbas Kiarostami, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Haneke displaces narrative conventions to awaken the unconscious.

There are no answers in Haneke's cinema, only questions — very big questions.

Rated R. 144 mins.