An empathy gut punch hits with a terror twist

Movies are what-if fantasy machines, prodding us to imagine what we would do in various permutations of love or hate. In the Fade, the latest from German director Fatih Akin, presents a most extreme example, after Katja (Diane Kruger) loses her husband, Nuri, and sixyear-old son to a terrorist bombing. It’s an empathy gut-punch.

Leaving aside the loss, her road isn’t easy; the police immediately question her Kurdish husband’s political affiliations and religious background.

And when Katja takes drugs to medicate her pain, it raises the spectre of his former life as a dealer.

She has her own theory, based on a blond woman who left a bomb-laden bike outside her husband’s office: “It was Nazis.” The film, which includes a lengthy trial and its aftermath, will eventually prove her right, thought that won’t necessarily make things any easier for her.

Kruger’s performance anchors the film; she appears in every scene (often smoking), and her journey through grief and into a kind of numb desire for justice (or is it vengeance?) won her the Cannes bestactress prize when the film premièred there last year. It also won the Golden Globe for best foreign-language film of the year, and is on the Oscar shortlist for the category.

Akin, who is of Turkish descent, buffets his central character with unexpected gales. Her mother-in-law delivers a short, stinging rebuke at the funeral. But on the other hand, the father of one of the bombing suspects proves to have unexpected reserves of humanity. Yet regardless of the circumstances, we never lose sight of Katja’s own decency, even under layers of pain and anguish.

The film’s three-part structure ends with a twist that will raise at least two questions in most viewers. Would I do this? And do I want her to? You may find yourself hoping Katja succeeds in her quest to get past what has happened. You may want her to fail, or find another way. You may even waver back and forth on the issue. But you wont forget it. ∂∂∂∂

In the Fade opens Jan. 19 in Toronto, and Jan. 26 in Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver, with other cities to follow.