Still from the film, "The White Ribbon,"written & directed by Michael Haneke
“ 'The White Ribbon' is offered to its grateful, masochistic audience in a punitive and yet oddly forgiving spirit, as a reminder of just how awful we are and how much worse we used to be."
From A.O. Scott's review in The New York Times
*Kicker: Journalism slang for an ending that finishes a story with a surprising or graceful flourish.