Michael Haneke won the 2009 Cannes Palm d' Or for this two-&-a-half hour black & white study of German rural village life in 1913. Focusing in particular on the austere & often brutal environment of the village school, the film not only exposes the cruelty & hypocrisy of adults towards children but offers an insight into the undercurrents of patriarchy & repression that went on to shape 20th-century Germany. As the outbreak of war draws near, a series of violent & unexplained events shake the small community to its core. In true Haneke style, the film is less concerned with providing a definitive answer to 'whodunnit' than with examining the unhealthy processes that contribute to a sick, disenfranchised society.