The White Ribbon: Part Deux

This is Jamie Ferri.

            I really enjoyed the film, The White Ribbon.  It made me feel angry, frustrated, and sad.  All I could was feel terrible for everyone.  The men, although on the outside put together and confident, were screaming for love and companionship.  They seemed so lonely and empty and they used their hard shell to cover it all.  The women, so quiet and defenseless, were treated so unfairly.  If only women at this time could know all the power they would come to have in later years, they might have been able to stand up for themselves.  Finally, the lives of the children hurt me the most.  Spoiler Alert I was happy to find out the ending because it showed their empowerment and it was relieving to see that some people had stood up with drastic measures! 

After rereading my notes from the second part of the film, I realized that I seemed to especially pay attention to the relationship between all of the parents and their children.  Here is some of what I chose to write down:  “Father doesn’t know his daughter’s age…Eva’s father doesn’t care if she leaves…Enormous respect for adults; stand when they enter the room.”

 The village is clearly full of very distant parent-child relationships.  The first example of this is in the scene where the Priest is telling his son that if he chooses to act on his teenage, bodily urges in the night that he will die.  It is absurd that a father would tell his son this, and then follow up by tying his hands to the bed at night.  I realize it was the time they were in that taught everyone that kind of behavior was sinful, but it is so far from how people treat the subject of sexual urges today that I could not bear to see that being done. 

Eva’s character really saddened me.  She is the closest to my age and I could truly relate to her.  She had a great job and was terrified when she lost it. Her personality is respectful, sweet, and shy.  It was no wonder the schoolteacher fell in love with her.  He seemed like a great person, they both stood out like jewels in the sand among the other townspeople.  I could see the schoolteacher’s heartbreak in his eyes when Eva’s father told him they could revisit the idea of the two of them dating after a year.  The funny thing is that she accepted it.  Nowadays a girl would do anything to be with the man see loves (See Romeo and Juliet).  


Another thing that annoyed me was when the schoolteacher took Eva on a carriage ride, she was too scared to go off course for a picnic by the lake.  How many times had it been beaten in her head that sex was so terrible, that she was nervous to be alone with him in a deserted spot?  Had she not trusted how great he was to her?  Her life made me sad.  Her father did not even care that she would be leaving the house.  He actually said something along the lines of not needing the extra mouth to feed.  Ouch.  Child services would be on the phone if my dad ever said that about me.

This movie was so interesting.  It really opened my eyes to that time and it definitely helps explain a little of how messed up the Nazi’s were from their childhood.  The movie seems to constantly express the theme of “don’t ask, don’t tell”.  Everyone is hush-hush and repression is rampant.  Thank goodness for the world today.