‘In the Fade’ Is an Indictment of Hate and Xenophobia

Fatih Akin, the German writer-director of Turkish descent, dazzled the cinema world with his viscerally-empowered 2004 film Head On, and similar themes are revisited in Akin’s stunning, In the Fade, about a modern Nazi bombing that takes the life of a Turkish man and his son. Rightfully well-awarded — Best Foreign Film Golden Globe, Best Actress award at Cannes for Diane Kruger’s remarkable performance as the aggrieved wife/mother of the victims (next up, an Oscar?) — the film is a uniquely powerful, sensitive, and surprise-lined twist-up of courtroom drama, revenge saga, indictment of hate criminality and xenophobia and psychological journey into the heart of grief. Genre and thriller elements in the dramatic mix actually help soften the potentially raw and gnawing pain of the dead spouse and child angle, not to mention the chilling, renewed relevance of this tale of intolerance and “other” phobia in the age of Trump.