Page - 54 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01

54 | Gerwin van der Pol www.jrfm.eu 2018 4/1 Breger13 and Stewart14 both focus on the film as a story about a collective or even a nation, on the basis of the schoolteacher’s introductory suggestion that the events in this film might explain events later in history (so, the First and Sec- ond World Wars). But if we want to explore the spectator’s engagement with the characters, the suggestion by Breger and Stewart that we engage with the characters as a group is insufficient. The film has so many characters, who are given almost equal screen time, that it is hard to talk about one main character. The film simply has many characters, and the spectator has to choose – and choose wisely – with which character to engage the most. Two characters do have more screen time than the others: the schoolteacher and the pastor. It is not very difficult to engage with the schoolteacher; he is a friendly, reasonable and somewhat shy young man; he is the narrator and he is our moral guide. He has more knowledge than the other characters; he is both young and old (he tells the story as an old man); and he has hindsight. He is friendly and timid. He falls in love with Eva, who looks after the Baroness’s twins but is sent away after Sigi’s wounding. The schoolteacher helps Eva, but cannot prevent her from leaving the village. He goes to visit her at her parents’ home, and her strict father suggests that he can marry her if he still wants to after a year. In one sparse moment together, Eva and the schoolteacher set off to have a picnic. Suddenly she tells him that she does not want to go to a remote spot. He says he was not planning anything dishonourable and does as she asks. She thanks him for that. At the end of the film he recounts that he finally left the village, fought in the war, and started a shop, never returning to the village. Strangely, he does not mention whether he eventually married Eva. The pastor is the central moral character. He gives long lectures to his chil- dren about moral behaviour. He is a natural leader. He is seen studying scrip- ture. He is authoritative, strong and never shows his emotions. But it is the Baron, the leader of the village, who gives a speech on morals in the church, rather than the pastor. Klara and Martin, the pastor’s two oldest children, are difficult to engage with. They group together with the other children, and we come to believe, at the suggestion of the narrator, they are jointly culpable for the crimes. How are we to engage with them in light of the following events? • That first day Klara and Martin come home too late and are severely pun- ished by being strongly reprimanded and beaten. From then on they both have to wear a white ribbon, in order that they are constantly reminding of the concept of purity. 13 Breger 2016. 14 Stewart 2010.