At its best, film should be like a ski jump. It should give the viewer the option of taking flight, while the act of jumping is left up to him.

For me, it's always difficult when a historical film claims to depict or represent a reality that none of us can know, that is always different. It's always the case. We never know what happened then.

It's the duty of art to ask questions, not to provide answers. And if you want a clearer answer, I'll have to pass.

The film [the white Ribbon] does try to use German Fascism as an example, but not specifically Fascism... the results of German Fascism. It shows how people are prepared or indoctrinated for an ideology... people who are already in a state of repression who have been humiliated by society and who clasp at a straw that's offered to them. And how that's then developed into a form of indoctrination.

People have been educated to expect answers, even before the questions come along. It's the TV principle. You offer three possible answers before the questions come to relax and calm the audience.

A feature film is twenty-four lies per second.

That is one of the characteristics of fascism, the idea that the state can provide all of the answers for everyone.