IN THE FADE
Germany, 2017, 106 minutes, Colour.
Diane Kruger, Denis Moschitto, Numan Acar, Samir Muriel Chancrin, Johannes Krisch, Ulrich Tukur, Ulrich Brandhoff, Hanna Hilsdorf.
Directed by Fatih Akin.
This is very much a film of contemporary times in Europe. It deals with issues of refugees and migrants from middle Eastern countries. It deals with hate crimes from groups of neo-Nazi sympathisers.
The writer-director himself, Fatih Akin, was born in Germany but has a Turkish background. This is very important for his films for the last 15 years, especially his award-winning (including Ecumenical Award in Cannes 2007), The Edge of Heaven.
The film opens in a prison, a tall, long-haired, prisoner is being cheered by all the men standing outside their cells. He is being freed, obviously having become a celebrity inside. On leaving, he is met by young woman and the next scene is of their being married. Already, the audience is being challenged in their attitudes towards the man, his appearance and behaviour, the marriage.
But, the film goes forward six years and everything is respectable. Nuri runs a business, he and his wife, Katia, have a small son. The boy is a perky young fellow, sparring with his mother, enjoying the company of his father. Katia leaves her boy with her husband as she goes with a friend for an afternoon at the sauna, returning to pick them up only to find that a bomb has exploded outside the office and husband and son are dead.
The film is divided into three sections. The first is called The Family, obvious enough. This is a couple who has made good, bringing up their son will, only for devastation. Katia’s mother, a rather unsympathetically aggressive woman, has been critical of her daughter’s marriage. Katia later reveals to the police that the two met when she bought marijuana from as a dealer when she was at college. Nuri’s parents, upset, intend to return to Turkey and want to take their son’s body. Katia refuses.
The next section is called Justice. Most of the takes place in the courtroom. Katia had been able to give testimony about a young woman with a bicycle whom she encountered just after she left her son at the office. The young woman and her husband are arrested, rabid racists and Neo-Nazis?. Katia is defended by a good friend who expects the obvious justice to be done. On the other hand, there is a very skilful defence lawyer, visualised as rather sinister and sounding sinister in his cross-examinations as well as his defence of the accused.
There are various legal complications in the hearings. Katja at one moment loses it and attacks the accused. When the verdict comes in, it is unexpected.
The third section of the film is called The Sea. One of the witnesses called to support the accused couple is a Greek who lies about his not being in Germany at the time of the attack. Katia has tracked him down, goes to visit his house by the sea in Greece, discovers that the two accused have come by caravan and are enjoying a holiday.
So, here comes the moral dilemma. Justice has not been done or seen to be done. Does Katia have the right to execute justice on the couple? Does she let hatred and anger consume her and ruin her life? In this last part of the film, the audience is put on the spot, morally. Are the couple so loathsome that they deserved to die? Has Katia the right to execute justice? (Even her going to a store and buying the ingredients for a nail bomb similar to what the couple and used for their sabotage?)
The questions are asked – but answered, ultimately, in a way that is comprehensible but has not necessarily been anticipated.
The German Academy award nominee for 2017, with Diane Kruger winning the Best Actress award at Cannes 2017.
1. The title? Nothing? Fatalistic and pessimistic?
2. The German settings, the opening prison sequences, the wedding? Apartments, ethnic areas of the city, the background of the Turks? Migration? Business shop, the sabotage and explosion? The courts, offices? The homes and family? The Greek settings, the house, the beach, the caravan? The musical score?
3. The three sections of the film, family, justice, sea?
4. The atmosphere and setting? The prison, Nuri, the applause, his swagger, the background of drug dealing, his business studies in prison? Wedding Katia? Six years, going straight, his prosperity, the office, the birth of Rocco, Rocco and his cheekiness with his mother? Relationship with his father? Katia and her friendship with Birgid? Her being pregnant? At the sauna? The roadblock, the news and the shock for Katia?
5. The police, going to the area with the survivors? News of the death of Nuri and Rocco? Katia, her weeping, her grief? Her mother and the family, a stern mother, softer stepfather, compassionate sister? Nuri’s family? Her being able to answer the police questions? Having seen the woman, the bike, urging her to lock it up and the woman’s response? Giving the description? The police, the concern about Nuri returning to drug dealing? Katia and her upset and denials? The surveillance of Nuri’s phone calls? The issue of whether this was anti--Muslim terrorism or not?
6. Katia, suspecting neo-Nazis? The investigation, the arrests?
7. The aftermath of the deaths, Katia asking her lawyer for drugs, the searching the house, the finding them, later used as evidence against her, indicating her unreliability especially in identifying the woman? The tensions in the house, her mother and the boyfriend? Nuri and his parents, wanting to take his body back to Turkey, Katia refusing?
8. The preparation for the court case, her friendship with the lawyer, his advice, support? In the court, the move to ask Katia to be removed by the defence lawyer, the judges saying she could stay? Her presence? The presence of the two accused, the smugness? The witnesses, the police, the evidence, speculation, forensic aspects? Katia hearing the history of Rocco’s death and wounds? Katia attacking the two in the court? The Greek witness, his lying? The accused and his father, his story, the flashbacks, the evidence? Having the cigarette after with Katia and apologising to her? The assurance that she would win the case? Catches testimony and its being undermined? The role of the defence lawyer, cross-examination, seeming sinister?
9. The verdict, disbelief, the couple and their reaction? The legal technicalities?
10. The third part, the Sea, Katia going to Greece, the villa, the woman warning the Greek and the threats to Katia? Going to the caravan, watching the couple, their jogging along the beach? Her buying the ingredients for the bomb, making it? Placing it under the caravan, the image of the bird on the roof? The change of heart, retrieving the bomb?
11. The lawyer, ringing her about the possibility of the Court of Appeal? Her decision? Going to the caravan with the bomb? The couple going inside? The explosion?
12. Her journey, suffering, issues of conscience and Justice?
