Cue my childlike glee: several clips from Michael Haneke’s Das Weisse Band (The White Ribbon) have appeared on YouTube! You won’t glean a great understanding of the story from these excerpts, but hopefully they’ll serve to tease the look and tone of the film. I particularly like the scene-setting clip showing threshers at work in fields; the sound and composition remind me vaguely of Dead Man. (It’s the third embed below.)
Here’s the info that appears on the (offically uploaded) clips:
A village in the Protestant North of Germany. 1913/14. Eve of the
First World War. The history of the village teacher-led school and
church. His childhood and young singers and their families: squire,
parson, Estate, midwife, doctor, farmer – just a cross-section. Strange
accidents happen and take after the character of ritual punishment.
Who’s behind it?
Though the film clips are not in English (and are subbed in French, appropriate for Cannes) there is also a brief selection from the score and an interview with Haneke that is subbed in English. (Look at how cuddly he is! Shucks, Haneke ain’t scary!) Those are embedded first, after which I’ve compiled all the clips to appear on YouTube so far.