It’s that time of year again when inhabitants of Hollywood feast on diets comprising solely of green food, the sofa is substituted for the sun-bed, colonic irrigation becomes as frequent as yoga and dozens of identical statuettes are frantically polished gold. For the 83rd year, Hollywood’s finest gather to honour the most talented, unique and deserving of the acting calibre. This year, a stammering king, a technology phenomenon and a disturbed ballerina are characters in the biggest drama of all: the Oscars.
BY CATRIONA BURNS
Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or award in Cannes, Michael Haneke’s ‘The White Ribbon’ is set in a pre WW1 agricultural German village, where order, rule and discipline are absolute, and enforced by the village Baron and heavily imposed on a moral level by the harsh and stern Protestant pastor. However, the structure of harmonious village life seems to disintegrate with the horrific events that ensue, and the sense of order is soon revealed as corrupt or non-existent.