In the Fade, German director Fatih Akinās new drama about tragedy, xenophobia, and weaponized grief, is split into three parts. First is āFamily,ā focusing on Katja (Diane Kruger), her Turkish immigrant husband Nuri (Numan Acar), and their adorable son Rocco (Rafael Santana). They live in a sleek, comfortable home and operate their own business in Hamburg, but their domestic bliss is annihilated when a targeted nail bomb kills Nuri and Rocco.
When sheās called in for questioning, Katja suspects itās the work of neo-Nazisāshe saw another German woman leave her bike unlocked outside Nuriās office on the day of the attack. But investigators ignore her and speculate, based on Nuriās Kurdish roots and drug-dealing past, that he had a connection to the Turkish mafia.
One of Akinās greatest accomplishments with In the Fade is how he forces viewers to bear witness to Katjaās raw, inescapable pain. Few things are more brutal than watching a mother shop for a tiny casket, sob in her dead sonās bunk bed, or stare at someone elseās baby with bitter longing. Itās almost too much, but you have to watch, even as Katja turns to hard drugs and nearly gives in to hopelessness.
In āJustice,ā Katjaās heartbreak sharpens into rage. This segment is a courtroom procedural thatās too prescriptive, with cookie-cutter villains and a seemingly ludicrous outcome. But Kruger carries the film through its lowest pointāKatja seethes as she sits across from the couple who murdered her family and remains stoic as her ability to perceive reality is publicly questioned.
Things start to spin out of control in the filmās final chapter, āThe Sea.ā Itās here that In the Fade morphs from legal drama to tooth-grinding international thriller, and Katja moves from bereaved widow to hell-bent avenger. Itās exciting, but jarring, and the jerky genre shifts arenāt as graceful as Akin had likely hoped. Katjaās actions are unpredictable, and up until the filmās final seconds, itās unclear whether sheāll choose mercy or revenge.
Throughout the film, Akināhimself of Turkish heritageāmasterfully depicts the nationalism and racism of modern-day Germany and its historical ties to the Third Reich. The first two parts of In the Fade were inspired by a 2013 trial in Munich against neo-Nazi terrorists who murdered several people of Turkish and Greek descentāa trial that is still ongoing, more than a decade since the killings took place, with a verdict due sometime this year.
Even though Katjaās foray into vigilante justice feels fantastical (and a little reminiscent of Kill Bill), the underlying narrative is grounded in reality: Nazis still exist, and theyāre still killing innocent people in the name of white supremacy. Although Kruger is fierce and magnetic as Katja, itās interesting to consider how the story mightāve been different if Nuriās wife were also of Turkish descent rather than a native German.
In the Fade has already won the 2018 Golden Globe for best foreign language film, and itās nominated for the same accolade at the upcoming Academy Awards. The praise is well deserved; itās a gripping, relevant film about coping with tragedy, the pitch-black void it creates, and the desire to seek revenge in its wake. Plus, the visuals are magnificentāespecially shots of shadows cast on rainy nights, the sapphire waters of the Greek coastline, and blood dissolving in bathwaterāas is its score, which was written by Queens of the Stone Age frontman and certified douchebag Josh Homme (the English title is one of the bandās songs).
The filmās conclusion is mystifying, thoughāitās unclear if thereās any intended moral to the story, or if the ending is simply meant to make us wonder what weād do in Katjaās position. Either way, In the Fade will continue gnawing at you long after itās over.