IN THE FADE – A Review by Cynthia Flores
BOOM!!!! Do I have your attention now! Good, I want to tell you about this brilliant new German film called In The Fade. This film is dark, taking a bold head-on look at terrorism wrapped up in nationalism that leaves innocent victims in its wake.
This story pivots around Katja (Diane Kruger), a native blonde and blue eyed German that is married to Nuri Sekerci (Numan Acar), a Kurdish man with whom she has a 5-year-old son named Rocco (Rafael Santana). They met when she bought hashish from him when she was a student. She married him in prison despite both sets of parents being against the union. They live in Hamburg and since the birth of their son, Nuri has quit drug trafficking and works in his own shop in a Kurdish neighborhood doing translation and tax prep work.
After Katja drops off her son with Nuri at his office for a night out with the girls, she bumps into a young girl that leaves her bike unlocked in front of the shop. She tells the young woman who’s in a rush to leave that it’s not a good idea to leave the bike there unlocked because it might get stolen. She shrugs the warning off and walks away. Katja doesn’t give it a second thought until after her night out and as she is driving home past her husband’s office she sees all the police and press mulling around. As she gets closer she’s told a bomb went off and it’s then she sees the remains of her husband's office as it burns. No one survived. This almost breaks Katja completely and suicide is an option until she is told that the killers are found.
We find out later that the young woman who left her bike out front is part of a white nationalist group that wants refugees to leave Germany and Europe. She and her boyfriend left the bomb as a form of terrorism against the Kurds in that neighborhood. Even with all the evidence and Katya’s eyewitness account of seeing the girl at the location there is no justice in the courts.
That’s when the film gets gritty and asks, “If your family were blown up by strangers and the courts didn’t give you justice, what would you do?” In the case of Katja she would be willing to do just about anything to get justice and revenge for her family.
In The Fade is a stunning film with some breathtaking visuals. The film is named after a song by the American rock band Queens of the Stone Age, whose lead singer, Josh Homme, wrote the film’s haunting score. This movie was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or in the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. It was there that Diane Kruger rightly won the Best Actress award for her heart wrenching portrayal of a woman that literally has her world blown to pieces.
Because In The Fade is a topical must see film, I give it a solid A rating.
Directed by Fatih Akin
Written By Fatih Akin, Hark Bohm,
Rated R
Selig Rating A
Running Time 1 hr 46 min
Drama
Release Limited February 2nd at Dallas & Plano Angelika Film Centers
Starring: Diane Kruger, Denis Moschitto, Numan Acar, Johannes Krisch, Ulrich Brandhoff, Hanna Hilsdorf
Movie Site: http://www.inthefadefilm.com/
The Selig Rating Scale:
A – Excellent movie, well worth the price.
B – Good movie
C – OK movie
D – No need to rush. Save it for a rainy day.
F – Good that I saw it on the big screen but wish I hadn't paid for it.
