juanmuscle
101 - in Germany you don't have to pay space rent, nor a yearly state tax on a trailer parked behind a big burning bush on the beach. If you are not totally pale in Germany and you just happen to find yourself at the beach, be wary of trailer parks. If you are a cute white couple who share murderous tendencies, move to Germany. In Germany even with all the evidence in the world stacked against you, it is very very difficult to prosecute murderer for murder. If a mom is pissed off enough, she can build a bomb. Super cute little curly haired kids with little toy hands should be very very scared in Germany. If you commit a murder in Germany make sure to hire an even uglier and taller lawyer than the notorious "Tall Man". In Germany it is very likely that you could go from victim to the bad guy if your family has been murdered. In Germany the weapon of choice for murder is a bomb. In Germany parents who bear and rear murderers love to pick up on the families' victims. In Germany its infinitely worse to consume drugs than to murder people. In Germany, everybody gives a helping hand to murderers...
lasttimeisaw
On paper, Fatih Akin's searing revenge cautionary tale has a by-the-rote plot, a bereft woman seeks justice on her own terms after legal system fails her, but seen through Akin's dark-colored glasses, IN THE FADE (named after the song of Queens of the Stone Age, whose lead singer Josh Homme provides a sparse but effectual score here), grittily grapples with the deplorable injustice on the strength of Diane Kruger's cracking central performance, eventually, it hits the mark as a woke indictment of the surging neo-Nazism, a pernicious global pathology that should be nipped in the bud. Making allowance for Akin's Turkish ethnicity, the story seems too close to home, it takes place in Akin's hometown Hamburg, and like THE EDGE OF HEAVEN (2007), is divided into a triptych: The Family, Justice and The Sea, each is introduced by a faux-documentary snippet, delineating those happy moments in the past. Kruger plays Katja, a German woman marries to a Turkish ex-con Nuri (Acar), and they have a young son Rocco (Santana), but their bliss is smashed to smithereens when Nuri and Rocco are killed by a nail-bomb, as the intended targets by Neo-Nazis, but ensuing police investigation makes heavy weather of Nuri's immigrant background and his drug-dealing history, a strategy too topical under today's climates. Granted, one must hand it to Akin for not white-washing Katja and Nuri's foibles, she meets him the first time through a drug transaction in college and it is equivocal whether Nuri still conducts some illegal goings-on sub rosa. Consumed with shock, disbelief and inconsolable grief, Katja resorts to narcotics for comfort, another unwise decision that boomerangs in the Justice segment, also coincidentally, Akin employs a gory suicidal-wrist-slitting-saved-by-a-phone-call happenstance that echoes Ildikó Enyedi's more mystical yarn ON BODY AND SOUL (2017).In the following courtroom drama, even with seemingly ironclad evidences, Katja and her lawyer Danilo (a benignly vociferous Denis Moschitto) still lose the prosecution case against two suspects, one of whom she spots right on the crime scene earlier that day, this is where the story becomes a bit vexing, because of Akin's blatant intention to show audience how lousy the legal system is, for one thing, he completely eschews the angle of the two suspects, projected as the incarnation of pure evil, they are not even being questioned during the entire trial, only sporadically seen through Katja's strung-out point-of-view.
Also the two suspects' flimsy alibi provided by a Greek fellow extremist is thoughtlessly skirted around, without doubt it takes more than a doctored hotel record to prove two people's presence in another country during the explosion, but Akin doesn't care to dwell on that, all leverage is left to Johannes Krisch's vile defense lawyer to chew the scenery, one wonders how soon he will be summoned by Hollywood to amp up his superb dastardliness. Finally, the third act spirits us away to a picturesque Greece where Katja traces down the two perpetrators and exacts her tit-for-tat retribution (alarmingly, there must be a do-it-yourself manual of nail-bomb available, presumably on the internet), commendably Akin graces her desperation and intrepidity with meaning pointers (the sight of an alighting bird which changes her initial decision, or that menstruation resumption), and rounds off the film with a poetic ending despite its violent means, the reverberations are appreciable. A tour-de-force from Ms. Kruger must be ranked among any year's-best list, a grueling task that she takes it to herself in devoting all her body and soul through the unimaginable fire and brimstone with conviction, verve and unstinting sympathy, as she clearly realizes that the film lives and dies with her portrayal as the sole pillar of the narrative, the upshot is arresting, powerful through and through, Cannes' BEST ACTRESS laurels are definitely not for nothing.
Mark Turner
Let me start off by saying this film is not about terrorists striking here in the US but about home grown terrorist in Germany, specifically Hamburg. It is there that Katja (Diane Kruger) is married to Kurdish immigrant Nuri Sekerci (Numan Acar). The pair also have a 5 year old son named Rocco. Nuri runs a business that helps new immigrants translate various documents to help them and one day Katja drops off their son there while she visits with one of her friends. As she leaves she bumps into a young woman who left her bike nearby unchained.As she returns home that evening she finds the road she takes past the office blocked off and flashing police lights illuminating the buildings. Stopping she gets out of the car and runs to find the office building blown apart. Someone has exploded a bomb outside and both Nuri and Rocco were instantly killed. Katja is torn by the event and is doing all she can not to lose control. Her friend and parents come to stay with her and keep an eye on her. Going out one night she contacts her friend and lawyer and he provides her with drugs she takes to deal with her inner pain, drugs one of his clients left. The lawyer worked for both her and Nuri, helping when years before when Nuri was a drug dealer. Having a child changed all that and Nuri and Katja had remained clean for years.She tells the police all about the girl she saw and the investigation moves forward. But rather than dig for the truth the police seem more focused on Nuri as an immigrant and potential terrorists himself. Noting his past record they check the house out and find her drugs but the officer in charge lets her off the hook. Still, their focus remains on Islamic terrorists ignoring the description of the girl she gave them. Until someone else gives her up.It turns out the pair responsible for the bombing were neo-Nazis, André (Ulrich Brandhoff) and Edda Möller (Hanna Hilsdorf). With evidence in hand the prosecutor charges them and the trial proceeds. This becomes a fascinating part of the film showing how differently the cases are handled there than here. Each day Katja must face the discussion of the deaths of her loved ones, certain in her own mind that these were the two that destroyed her family.The question rises as the trial progresses just how far the defense is willing to go. All of the past is brought up to steer the focus away from the defendants. The defense also makes an attempt at discounting the evidence that was found in the home of André's father, the man responsible for calling in the police and leading to their arrest. It isn't certain whether this line of defense will play out in favor of the defendants or in favor of Katja. But finding justice and finding revenge are two different things to consider.The movie is well made and acted with Kruger turning in yet another great performance. She is center stage here from start to finish, the entire film revolving are her character. This is a complex character not prone to hysterics all the time but unraveling due to her circumstances as the film progresses. Kruger makes her believable and the pain she releases is tangible at times.The movie is definitely a depressing tale to follow and it moves along with ups and downs as it moves forward. And while Kruger does a tremendous job I felt it difficult to get involved too deep with the character and her predicament. Still it was an interesting film to watch and worth taking a look at.
