In the Fade (2017)

The German actress Dianna Kruger ( Inglourious Basterds 2009, Anything for Her 2008) won a Best Actress Award at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for her role in this Faith Akin written and directed movie In the Fade. Kruger plays Katja Sekerci who’s Kurdish/German husband Rocco (Numan Acar, who you may have seen in the TV series Homeland or perhaps The Great Wall 2016) and son is killed in a terrorist attack. An attack said to be based on 2004 Cologne bombing when Neo-Nazis detonated a nail bomb in a busy Turkish neighbourhood. Although the police are certain the killing is motivated by Rocco’s drug trafficking past whereas Katja is convinced that it’s the work of a German Neo-Nazi cell.

This very well composed movie follows the trials and tribulations of Katja as she deals with her personnel problems following the obliteration of her family and the hunting down of those responsible for the atrocity and importantly justice for her husband and her 6-year-old son. A gripping, timely movie, that at its heart has a cautionary tale of racist violence that modern day Europe is very well aware of.