Okrucieństwo ma twarz dziecka. O Białej wstążce Michaela Hanekego

Abstrakt

CRUELTY HAS THE FACE OF A CHILD. ON THE WHITE RIBBON BY MICHAEL HANEKE

This analysis concerns Michael Haneke’s film White Ribbon 2009. The author considers the function of violence in this film especially in view of the perpetrators’ acts of evil. In White Ribbon children are the ones who terrorize other people. Young people torment the others, act out the pressure imposed by their parents. Haneke’s story happens in Germany around the Second World War. The director suggests that young characters in the film in few years’ time will follow Hitler. The author deliberates on the rightness of this suggestion. Paulina Wakar devotes most attention to the relationship between children and parents. She tries to figure out the causes of emotional coldness of parents. She also explores the importance of children’s behavior. In the last part of this article, the author compares the functions of violence in Haneke’s and Tarantino’s films. She refers to Tarantino because Haneke is the author who polemicizes with the director of Pulp Fiction.