This is a film that is deceptively gentle in tone while being evil at it's core. The setting is a small village in Germany on the eve of World War I beginning. The cinematography is spectacular--black and white and crisp all over. The opening scene is disturbing. A man riding a horse is felled from his horse by a wire stretched across the entrance to his yard. The horse has to be put down, the man recovers but only after months in hospital. And not a person looks at the intended victim to ask "Why him?" And therein lies the cultural flaw. Presumably people know that the man deserves such treatment and are not prepared to intervene on his behalf. Let the games begin.
There are many questions raised by this movie, and nary an answer given. Does the vicious ingrained nature of how the adults treat the children breed their bullying the weak amongst them? Is this the root of the rise of Fascism? The tale is relayed by the innocent man amongst them, who upon having the truth finally become clear to him, is compelled to leave. The movie is magically evil in such a gentle way that it is haunting. If you need a way to think about how monstrous things might occur without malice being prominent, this is the film to watch.
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