Talk about a story that pulls at the heart strings. In the Fade generally means that you have lost all will to live, that you are fading away and have lost the necessary will to go on. This certainly seems to be the case of Katja, who comes home to find that her husband and son are both dead, victims of a seemingly random bombing that takes their lives while she is out. Just thinking of the one-two punch to the gut that this would deliver is horrendous, but tackling a movie such as this in the current era we live in is fairly brave and requires a delicate touch.
Fatih Akin must have struck a nerve then if this film if it’s been nominated as a German Oscar entry, meaning that he did something very right with a subject that is so horribly real in the current era. How anyone would be able to truly portray the pain and anguish that would come from knowing that their loved ones died for such seemingly random hatred is painful enough, but to put that kind of emotion onscreen could not have been easy for the cast, nor could it have been easy for the man that plays the father of the bomber, who does not condemn his son for the act.
How could anyone, a mother, a parent, not want justice after that? Katja is seen to almost give up, to resort to measures that might end her life eventually. But then something kick starts her back into action, and she is ready to fight to the death, figuratively, for the sake of her husband and child. She rails against the unfairness of it, the injustice, and the absolute hateful feelings that have been seen to encompass anyone that is different from what is considered the societal norm.
Such a powerful message and an equally powerful movie is no doubt a shoe-in for a nomination and quite possibly the award all in one. Tackling such a difficult subject is both engaging and daunting for many directors considering the level of emotions that have to be worked with and around. This kind of thing is unfortunately prevalent in society today, and the hatred that is felt towards others for no better reason than because they belong to a different race has become an epidemic in the last several decades.
Many would like to claim that it is not that bad, that where they live the general feeling is live and let live. Unfortunately this is simply because that is true. Some areas do not deal with racism or the violence it brings in such a manner largely because those communities are either well-integrated and have learned how to coexist, or have decided to ignore the issue and go on with life as it is, for better or worse.
The trouble is that by ignoring it the statistical probability that you might become the next victim tends to go up.
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