Some questions I had regarding the film (Spoilers inside!)

Bump!

Great movie, and some good questions you have raised.

Here are my thoughts.

"First off: Was Klara pregnant? I've seen this movie and so have many acquaintances of mine and we couldn't agree whether Klara was pregnant. I think it's implied she was abused by her father (the preacher), why would she faint in class or kill the birdie otherwise?"

Possibly, but there was no direct evidence the pastor molested his children. He was however, very strict and used shame as a form of punishment. Klara may have been pregnant but it could of easily of been the doctor that was molesting her which triggered the need for revenge, i.e. trip the doctor's horse up etc. We know the doctor molested his own daughter and treated women as objects for his pleasure, i.e. the midwife.

Second, Why did the doctor flee the town? Was he scared of being found out? and if that was the case why did her assistant (the "old" woman) run away and left the offspring in alone a house with sealed windows? Why was he attacked by the other children? In Erna's words "He never bothers anyone", did they do it simply because he was retarded?.


Possibly scared of being found out, or he realised the kids had grown up to take revenge. He put two and two together and realised it was the kids that tripped up his horse and was concerned what they may do next. I'm not sure why the midwife ran away on the bike in such haste. The haste part is interesting, she desperate wanted the bike after being refused a carriage.

The movie also showed on numerous occasions how the kids like to ease drop (through doors) or look for windows to keep an eye on what was going on. Hence they would know a lot about what the doctor was up to.

To me, the son was attacked because it was believed he may of have been the illegitimate son of the doctor. They discussed that at the end of the movie along with the handicap of the child being a result of a failed abortion to hide the fact the doctor knocked up the midwife. The note found on the boy said something like, 'the the children will pay for the sins of their fathers.' Hence the other children punished the son for the sins of the doctor, his father. The children appeared to believe they were doing right in God's eyes, as was shown by the boy at the start walking on the railing to give God a chance to kill him, if he was doing wrong.

And my final question query is why the farmer (whose wife had fell into the pit) didn't want to avenge her or anything. It makes sense he didn't want to be fired, but he seemed a little too reluctant to do anything, which leads me to wonder why he killed himself hence leaving all his children by themselves.

My thoughts are the father was in a no win situation. If he accused his employer of negligence he would likely receive no future work. And since the Baron was pretty much the only employer he was stuck. However, the guilt over that, slowly ate away at him, eventually to the point that depression from the guilt, accumulated grief and loneliness, overwhelmed him to give up, to take his own life. A similar scene happened in the end when the teacher confronted the pastor. The pastor threated to destroy the teachers life for the accusations.

There is in an interview with the director here http://www.timeout.com/london/film/michael-haneke-discusses-the-white-ribbon-1

It sheds a bit more light on various happenings.

Haneke, the director goes on to say,

‘The pastor is not willing to accept the situation, otherwise his entire life would fall apart. They’re not evil people, it’s just the situation. The pastor is a man who loves his children and is convinced he’s doing the right thing. It’s a shock to him because as soon as he sees the murdered bird on his desk he knows that the teacher’s accusations are true. It’s not so funny for him.’

It's a great movie to discuss. Lots of things going on, and different answers to be found depending on the perspective of the viewer. One of the things that makes the movie interesting.

No Klara wasn't pregnant. She faints because she's stood up and has to listen to an unjustified tongue lashing. Her anger towards her father leads her to kill the bird, who dead image reminded me of the crucifixion. She was certainly abused by her father but there is nothing to suggest that this was sexual, and much to argue against this.

We aren't told why the doctor left town. I thought it might be because his daughter Anna was pregnant. Similarly it is a mystery as to why the midwife left but she didn't leave her son Karli in the house. His whereabouts is also a mystery, though at one point it's hinted that he may be the doctor's son, so perhaps he took him. We don't know if Karli was attacked by the other children. The schoolteacher narrator thinks he was but admits that his story may not be entirely accurate.

The farmer's wife died in an accident because the floorboards were rotten. Who knows why anyone kills themselves. It may have had to do with his grief or his family's stricken circumstance, or his impotence in providing justice for his wife in the feudal setting, or perhaps all or none of these.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Here's my interpretation of some of the events:

-Daughter speaks to other children about being abused by her father.
-Some of the children decide to react and hurt the doctor. Horse accident happens and the way it did plus the initial policeman scene advocate that theory.
-Doctor realises word has gone around and emergently leaves the village taking sick Karli with him to a hotel or a hospital in the city.
-Doctor is either unable to take Karli's mother along or refuses to since he hates her
-Queue Karli's mother scene where she is desperate to get to the city, she probably even lies about knowing who the perpetrator is. Why else would the mother be so convinced to go to the city and later never comes back ? She only cared about her son and the doctor.
-Doctor later comes back to take his kids away as the narrator says.
-Villagers blame everything on the doctor and karli's mother as there are some indications about it but most importantly, it's much easier for them to blame someone who's left the village than people still living in the village.
-Nothing else is known since the narrator leaves and never sees any villager again.

Other comments have put some good answers too. I'm pretty convinced Klara wasn't pregnant, she just reacted that way in that situation, she was fed up with the oppression and fought back in her own way, killing the bird and possibly doing some of the other misdeeds like tripping the doctor's horse.

Regarding Karli getting attacked I'd agree on the theory the children taking revenge on the doctor as they thought he was his son and probably was.

Farmer not reacting could be a number of reasons. Maybe he was unsure if the baron was at fault, maybe he was a coward, maybe he realised nothing good would come out of it.

As for the suicide, that was no surprise at all. His life had been completely destroyed. His wife suddenly dead. He was unable to provide for his family anymore. His relation with his older son was destroyed. I mean it's depressing to even think about all that, imagine living it.

I thought it was Anna (the doctor's daughter) who was abused by her father?

I don't think Klara was pregnant in any case. Klara definitely fainted as a way to get out of class and a public scolding. She lied every time she opened he mouth, she couldn't talk her way out of this situation so she faked a fainting spell.