What is it about Cannes juries and their love for realism? Is it too much to ask that a Palme d’Or winner tells a compelling story? While I found last year’s winning The Class at least interesting, it clung a bit heavily to the realism kick. And 2007’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was so boring it would put Gus Van Sant to sleep (he won in 2003 for the sloth-like Elephant). I am sorry to say I enjoyed Michael Haneke’s addition to the list even less than any of those films. And I have a feeling Haneke wanted it that way. While I never saw either of his reportedly quite distrubing versions of Funny Games, I did find myself pretty creeped out by Cache. Haneke loves to make the audience feel uncomfortable – and The White Ribbon is one long uncomfortable ride. But unlike Cache, I had no interest in any of the many despicable characters and didn’t think any of the performances were all that special. There were too many diverging plot lines and I was still trying to figure out who some of the characters were by the end. So what are people raving about? The black and white cinematography? Okay sure it was kind of nice and added to the Bergman or Kurosawa-esque feel, but I still require some kind of satisfying story in order to enjoy the experience. Without that, you are just left with a movie that reminds you of better movies.