Oscar-nominated 'White Ribbon' a chilling, spooky tale

Imagine “Our Town” staged as a European horror movie. Thornton Wilder couldn’t have conceived a rustic community like the creepy one depicted in “The White Ribbon.”

Last week it was nominated for two Oscars and is the early favorite to win for best foreign-language picture. It already landed last month’s Golden Globe, the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and many awards for its luminous black-and-white cinematography. This latest work from writer-director Michael Haneke (“The Piano Teacher”) deserves the many accolades. It sucks you in with the tense intrigue of a thriller and multiple interwoven story lines of a soap opera. Yet, it also has the fleshed-out characters, perceptiveness and striking imagery of art.