It should come as no surprise to anyone that Germany has selected Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” (trailer here) as their official candidate for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. No foreign-language Palme d’Or winner has failed to be entered in the race since Japan’s “The Eel” in 1997, and “The White Ribbon” has both breathless critical acclaim and a recognizable auteur name going for it.
Still, the severe arthouse work remains an adventurous choice for Germany, given that Haneke’s icy formalism hardly sits very comfortably in the Academy’s wheelhouse.
The Austrian filmmaker has previously had four of his films submitted for Oscar consideration by his home country, each time failing to make the Academy’s grade: most recently, 2005 critical darling “Caché” was controversially disqualified for not being in the submitting country’s own language. (The resulting outcry prompted a revision of the rules.)
Perhaps the switch of nationalities will reverse Haneke’s Oscar fortunes. You have to like his chances more when you consider Germany’s impressive recent track record in the category: in the past 7 years, the country has scored 5 nominations in the category, winning twice. (Strangely, the two that missed out — “The Edge of Heaven” and “Goodbye Lenin!” — were critical and audience pets respectively.)
Haneke’s work is a far cry from the more approachable mainstream sensibilities of recent winners “Nowhere in Africa” and “The Lives of Others,” but “The White Ribbon” is widely agreed to be a more restrained effort from an artist usually associated with vivid onscreen violence and sexual content — though nobody’s calling it a comfortable sit either. Perhaps the period setting will appease the foreign-language committee bluehairs.
Of course, even if said bluehairs don’t take to the film, it still stands to benefit from the category’s recently installed safety net, whereby a (supposedly) more discerning executive committee selects 3 snubbed titles to join the 6 selected by the larger voting body, forming a 9-film shortlist from whioch the final nominees are drawn.
It’s a rule change that very possibly kept last year’s Palme d’Or champ “The Class” (or even pundits’ favorite “Waltz With Bashir”) in the race back in January — though even this system proved less than trustworthy after the committee deemed multi-laurelled critical hit “Gomorrah” not good enough for the shortlist. There are simply no safe bets with these guys.
On the other hand, some pundits are even listing Haneke and “The White Ribbon” as a potential dark-horse contender (however far-fetched) in the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay categories. Clearly this Sony Pictures Classics title is one we’re going to be talking about one way or another as it heads for a Christmas Day bow in the States.
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15 responses to “Germany submits ‘White Ribbon’ for Oscar”
I hope it wins.
Didn’t France submit something other than L’Enfant the year it won?
“L’Enfant” was Belgian, James.
Oh, that explains it.
The Foreign Language section irritates me to no end. The Counterfeiters was such a mediocre film, and then 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days does not even get nominated! 2008 was no better, with Gomorra being left out and The Class losing to Departures.
I am excited for The White Ribbon, though.
Yeah, don’t even get me started on the category’s problems. (No doubt I’ll be whinging enough about them as the season unfolds.)
In a perfect world, there would be no “Best Foreign-Language Film” category. The fact that there needs to be one to recognize non-American/British films really says a lot about the Academy.
Especially considering Inglourious Basterds is in the running for some things (like Supporting Actor for instance) and it’s nearly foreign film itself. I’m still irritated by Pan’s Labyrinth losing, considering it swept half of the tech awards.
@Joel very few people can say that The Lives of Others was an undeserving winner. Two great movies but from the on-set a grim fantasy like Pan’s Labyrinth was a much harder win from the Academy than an Academy friendly The Lives of Others. It’s The Amelie (fan favorite) vs. No Man’s Land (Oscar friendly choice)
in spain it´s not clear. Broken embraces or Map of the sounds of Tokyo.
“The Lives of Others” has just as many supporters in film circles as “Pan’s Labyrinth”. It’s just that it’s not a film that begs for fanboys (which is a silly term for such a movie, but it fits).
I’m not so sure “The White Ribbon” can make the five. Yes, it’s a period film and has vague illusions to war (but WWI, not the pre-ordained WWII) but it’s hardly “Europa Europa”, ya know? It’s dark and brooding with themes of sexual repression and violence and it’s an untidy film in that there’s no real ending and it’s not an easy sit.
It should be a frontrunner for cinematography and I CAN actually see a lone best director nod as a possibility if it starts to pick up critics awards and the major branches are forced to take notice.
Glenn: Kind of my thinking. Even on a leash, Haneke is just such a reach for that branch.
And yeah, “Pan’s Labyrinth” versus “The Lives of Others” was a very fair fight. I have no problem with the way it turned out. (And Joel, why would a bunch of tech awards necessarily entitle it to the prize?)
Glenn: It will be interesting to see if we still have lone director nominees now that the Best Picture category will consist of 10 films. I guess it is still possible. (it happened a couple of times back in the ’30s when the Academy regularly had 10 BP nominees.) Or, to put it the other way round, maybe the 10 means that the White Ribbon will have a shot at a Best Picture nod.
In any event, I’m looking forward to seeing it.
[…] Germany Submits Haneke’s White Ribbon for Oscar [In Contention] […]
Edward, I think the lone director spot will survive every now and again but not as regularly. Do we really think “Mulholland Drive” or “The Sweet Hereafter” would have gotten best picture nominations in a field of ten despite their best director citations? Not so sure.
Would they have had the gall to nominate “Boyz in the Hood” for best picture? I doubt that a lot. etc.
Quite so. I personally have a hard time imagining “Three Colours: Red” and “Vera Drake” making the Best Picture cut in their respective years.
By the way, this discussion does rather invite the question: where the hell has the directors’ branch’s spirit of adventure gone these past few years? It’s been a while since they came up with something truly out of left field. (Some may count “United 93,” I suppose, but I don’t.)