In The Fog (Sergei Loznitsa, 2012): Germany, The Netherlands, Belarus, Russia & Latvia

Reviewed by Yuichi K. Viewed at Chinese 3, AFI Fest 2012.

How does the war change the human relationship? In The Fog, directed by Sergei Loznitsa, treats the war situation around people and Nazi, which has invaded in Belarus, like the reminiscence of World War II.

In 1942, Belarus has involved in the World War II. For the invasion of Nazi, people fearfully live. One day, Burov and Voitik meet Sushenya who is an old acquaintance of Burov. Burov has decided to execute Susheya, and brings him out to the forest. When Burov just aims to Sushenya, the police which patrols in the forest appears, and shoots Burov. This changes all the situations around these three people at once.

The highlights of the story are the memoirs of Sushenya, Burov, and Vitik. They, historically, talk about how the war appears on them and the situations drive them with their old experiences. In the war front, prisoners are very important because they are for the way of the negotiations. Also they are mutineers, and need to be managed by the commands. However, in the story, people near the three are driven in the situations, and many are executed. On the other hand, Burov, Voitik, and Shshenya recognize each other as enemies, but they have an stable and understandable relationship. Therefore, their situation is a little curious, and also special for the audiences.

This story has some plots. One is the fate of the three people. Others are past lives of these three people. Their experiences work for their behaviors, and also explain the fortunes and the relationships in the war. This way to explain the story is similar with the freewill interviews. This director, Sergei Loznitsa, is known as a documentary maker. His experiences must support this work, and make this film like an informative lesson.

In The Fog is an official selection of Cannes Film Festival in 2012, and won the FIPRESCI Prize. This director, Sergei Loznitsa, has a lot of experiences on the documentary field. This, In The Fog, is his second narrative work. Vladimir Svirskiy, acts for Sushenya, Vladislav Abashin, acts for Burov, and Sergei Kolesov, acts for Voitik, are all fresh bloods in the film field.

At a glance, the war is not always our problems. Especially, to compare with the cold war era, developed countries are more peaceful than before. However, other countries, especially, middle east and Arab countries, tend to have more conflicts in the world. To spread the meanings of this film, people must have some answers for the future world.