Message 626

Last night I went to a movie with Larry and Judi. We saw The White Ribbon, which is a German film set in Germany just before World War 1. It is puzzling to watch and a lot of mysteries are never explicitly solved, but it is implied that the kids did the bad things. It shows an aristocratic family in which the Baron abuses and exploits the peasants, a minister who whips his children and forces a lot of religious discipline on them, a doctor who abuses his nurse and molests his daughter, and the Baron's steward who beats his kids, and a farmer who commits suicide because he can not feed his many kids after the Baron quits letting him work on the estate. It also shows a young school teacher who is the only middle class the narrator of the story in his old age. The movie ends with the start of WW 1, and the final scene slowly fades to black which presumably is a metaphor for the terrible things the kids will do when they are the grown-ups during World War 2. It is very well filmed in black and white to give a sense of the time and place. The white ribbon, which is a translation of the German title is a sign of purity which the preacher ties of his kids when he thinks they need reminding that they are supposed to be pure. I give it three stars, although it is nominated for a best foreign film Oscar this year.

This morning I met Helen and Jim, Joan and David, Ginny and Jim (who are in town babysitting the twins so Jamie and Chelsea go to Houston for a band weekend), and Julian and Vanessa with their kids. At the beginning there were a total of ten of us, but Julian and Beech had to leave early to go to Kung Fu. Ginny and Jim left the twins with the babysitter who regularly takes care of them on Saturday mornings. It was fun to have everyone get together, and I got a lot of exercise and had a lot of fun chasing Annie around.