In a small Protestant village in northern Germany on the eve of World War I, a series of disturbing, inexplicable incidents — accidents, disappearances, and acts of cruelty — begin to occur. The village schoolteacher narrates events whose meaning only becomes apparent decades later. Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or-winning masterpiece — shot in stunning black and white by Christian Berger — is a cold, meticulous examination of the authoritarian structures and repressed violence that gave rise to fascism. One of the defining films of the 21st century.