The White Ribbon

This is Sheryl.  The film The White Ribbon depicts a town in Germany around the time of World War I.  Though we have only watched the first half of the film so far, it seems to have a theme about repressing pleasure and the punishment for not doing so.  We see the children of the pastor go off on an excursion after school one day, though we do not see where they go.  The children return home late that evening as a result of whatever it was they went off to do, which we can assume is something more pleasurable to them than being home on time and avoiding any punishment.  When the children return home late that evening, they are told that no one is eating dinner because of them, and that 24 hours later they will each be receiving ten lashes in front of one another.  The children do not seem surprised by this punishment, which implies that they either respect or are used to the punishment of lashing.  It is probably something they have experienced their whole lives, as their reactions make it seem somewhat inevitable and commonplace.

                In the beginning of the film, we see that the doctor has been injured because someone placed a clear wire across two trees which the doctor’s horse tripped over, killing the horse and severely injuring the doctor.  The wire was removed by the time the police came to investigate, and there is reason to believe that it was placed there on purpose.  We do not yet know who placed the wire there, though.  I am nervously intrigued to find out who placed the wire there and consequently what their punishment will be.  If the children received ten lashes for missing their curfew, the punishment for something significantly more severe – regardless of who committed the act – must be drastically worse.