Aus
Dem Nichts (2017): Written and directed by Fatih
Akin. Starring: Diane Kruger, Denis Moschitto, Johannes Kirsch, Ulrich
Tukur. Running Time: 106 Minutes.
Rating:
3/4
And
the quiet revival of German cinema continues.
Aus Dem Nichts will, in all
likelihood, be merely the first of many German movies in coming years to tackle
the various issues surrounding immigration that have gained increasing
prominence in public debate since 2015, and what a start it is. It is a hard look at how the fringe right of
society, by giving in to its darkest and most violent impulses, can all too
easily corrupt and drag down the rest of us when we try to grapple with
it.
Diane
Kruger stars as Katja, a woman happily married to a Turkish man, whose life is
completely shattered when a seemingly random nail-bomb attack kills both her
husband and their young son. The police
eventually arrest a young neo-Nazi couple and charge them with the
double-murder, and as the trial progresses (and the prospects for true justice
being delivered both rise and fall), Katja struggles with how- and if- her life
can ever go on, and what the loss of her family means for her future.
Central
to the film is Diane Kruger’s powerhouse performance in the leading role. It’s already netted her the Best Actress
award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, and may well land the film a
consecutive nomination for Germany in the Best Foreign Picture category at the
upcoming Oscars. Her tight, drawn facial
expressions run the gamut of all the emotions raging through her; her pain at
the scale and senselessness of her loss is clear, but so is her incredible
inner resolve, as she chooses to subject herself to every aspect of the trial,
including even a skin-crawlingly detailed description by the coroner of each
nail found in the bodies.
Her
performance is matched by cinematography that perfectly mirrors the moods and
depressions she struggles with before, during, and after the trial. This is especially apparent during the first
two-thirds of the movie (there are three sections total, each separated by a
chapter title), where her surroundings are filled with darkness. In one of my favorite single images of any
film I’ve seen this year, the camera holds on her face as she stares out
blankly at the night rain, the shadows cast by the water running down the
window criss-crossing her face like black tears.
Beyond
her performance, the matter at hand in the film is an inherently loaded one
that will inevitably divide both audiences and casual viewers. How to properly respond to violence and
extremism is such an emotional, fraught, and complex question that we will
never have a commonly accepted answer to it, and the movie is filled with this
ambiguity. The act of these neo-Nazis is
heinous, but there is plenty of room to argue whether or not the justice
system, the extended friends and family members of the victims, and even Katja
herself react in healthy or constructive ways.
Katja’s own conclusion, reached at the very end of the movie after a
long and tortuous process of self-reflection, is the sort of ending meant to
provoke endless, controversial debate afterwards.
I
imagine it would be a fascinating experience to watch this film with a variety
of people across political spectrums of the West and discuss its themes for
several hours afterward, and perhaps one day I will have such a chance. It may take a while for this film to make the
rounds, but it is absolutely a work seeing should the chance present
itself.
-Noah Franc
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