Das Weisse Band (aka The White Ribbon) (2009)

Set in pre WWI Germany during a year from 1913 to 1914, the film focuses on a series of brutal incidents in a small village. Out riding, a doctor and his horse are tripped by a wire, a factory worker falls through the rotted floor boards to her death, a young child is cruelly beaten and hung upside down, a mentally challenged child is tortured to the point of blindness, etc. Written and directed by Michael Haneke (CACHE). Winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival, Haneke may have directed his most disturbing film yet with unsettling observation shot in stark B&W. As the film moves on, to our growing horror, not only do we suspect the perpetrators but fully comprehend the why of it. The fact that it's set in Germany speaks volumes (though I'm not sure Haneke intended it as such) of the horrors that were yet to come in its immediate history. The film's methodical pace is often a drag but ultimately a small price to pay. If you're looking for catharsis, you won't find it here. With Christian Friedel, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur and Ursina Lardi.