美国国家公共电台 NPR Germany's 'In The Fade' Flips The Script On The Terrorism Film

 

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

In recent years, films about terrorism have become a kind of genre¹. They're often geopolitical thrillers² or espionage³ dramas. Well, a new film from Germany takes a different and more intimate approach. It's called "In The Fade." It's Germany's entry to the Oscars, and the film tells the individual story of a survivor⁴ picking up the pieces of her broken life. NPR's Bilal Qureshi reports.

BILAL QURESHI, BYLINE⁵: German filmmaker Fatih Akin⁶ says the constant barrage⁷ of terrorism news misses a crucial detail.

FATIH AKIN: You don't know nothing about those people who died. It's just numbers - 30 people died, 135 people died. And you don't know nothing about the left ones - the mothers, the parents, the children. But what you do get to know immediately is the murderer was Abu Jihad I-Don't-Know-What, you know? And his father says something like, my son never did something wrong, you know? You know everything about the murderers. I was more interested about the victim.

QURESHI: So his new film, "In The Fade," focuses on one of those left behind. It's the story of a wife and a mother named Katja.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANONYMOUS⁸ CLUB")

COURTNEY BARNETT: (Singing) Just you and me.

QURESHI: She's driving to a Turkish neighborhood in Hamburg to pick up her husband and 6-year-old son. She sees flashing lights, the street is cordoned⁹ off, and it's obvious something is very wrong.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IN THE FADE")

DIANE KRUGER: (As Katja Sekerci, speaking German).

QURESHI: I have to get to my family, she screams as the camera reveals the bombed-out remains¹⁰ of her husband's office. Katja is played by Diane Kruger. Before filming, she spent months with families who've experienced that kind of loss.

KRUGER: Families that couldn't say goodbye to their loved ones because there's nobody left or how mothers deal with the death of their children. So just listening to that is something that I will never forget.

QURESHI: The police in the film are less empathetic. Katja's husband is a German of Kurdish background, and the interrogating¹¹ officer immediately assumes he was involved with Islamists.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IN THE FADE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, speaking German).

KRUGER: (As Katja Sekerci, speaking German).

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, speaking German).

QURESHI: Was he religious? Was he involved with the mafia, the detective asks. "In The Fade" flips¹² the script on the terrorism film. It turns out Katja's husband was murdered by neo-Nazis¹³.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IN THE FADE")

KRUGER: (As Katja Sekerci, speaking German).

QURESHI: The movie is based on the true story of the killings¹⁴ carried out by the National Socialist¹⁵ Underground between 2001 and 2009. Film critic Patrick Wellinski is with German public radio.

PATRICK WELLINSKI: The police was investigating murders that occurred all over Germany. Migrants were killed, nine - one Greek and eight Turkish men were killed. And they didn't even have the idea that all the murders were connected, that all the murders were perpetrated by terrorists, by right-wing terrorists. And after this was uncovered, the whole society was, like, in shock - politicians, you know, citizens, the media. The media had a very crucial role because they didn't believe it either. And I think this is a shock which still lingers on.

QURESHI: Filmmaker Fatih Akin was born in Hamburg to a family of Turkish immigrants. He says those murders felt personal.

AKIN: I was very angry when all the truth came out, when we knew that the police was wrong and the media was wrong and the public was wrong by blaming the victims to be, like, involved in some criminal activities just because they have backgrounds, you know. That was the fact which bothers me more than the essential killings.

QURESHI: What bothered Diane Kruger, the film's star, was the way neo-Nazis have resurfaced in Germany since she left for Hollywood more than two decades ago.

KRUGER: What's changed since I've lived there is, like, I remember in the '90s, you know, they were skinheads, so they - you could see they visually were different. They took pride in cutting their hair a certain way and dress a certain way. And now they look like, you know, you and me. They - you don't recognize them, which makes them more dangerous. And I'm - as a German, I'm ashamed of it, that that still exists, especially in our country.

QURESHI: Kruger won the top acting¹⁶ prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance as Katja. She dedicated¹⁷ the award to the survivors¹⁸ of terrorism. Casting a blonde, blue-eyed German actress as the face of righteous rage against neo-Nazis was important says filmmaker Fatih Akin.

AKIN: I know a lot of Germans, friends of mine, white people, who really have a problem with the Nazis we have there, you know, saying things like somebody should take a machine gun and blow them all away. I hear this from German people. So you have this radicality by white folks, you know? And I want to use that. I want to use that element. I thought it would be more complex and less cliche¹⁹ if just a Turkish victim doing, like, blood honor revenge kind of like stuff, you know?

QURESHI: So instead, it's Kruger's character who goes on a vengeful quest to find out who murdered her family. She uncovers a network of right-wing racists stretching from Germany to Greece.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "IN THE FADE")

KRUGER: (As Katja Sekerci) I'm looking for two friends of mine, a couple. I think they might be staying here from Germany.

QURESHI: The film arrives at a time when anti-immigrant movements are flourishing around the world, but the anger Fatih Akin feels about what's going on in Germany doesn't mean he's lost hope.

AKIN: I am optimistic that things will turn better - you know, truly optimistic - but I don't know when.

QURESHI: Akin says, where there's darkness, there's light, and "In The Fade" is his contribution - a personal story about finding a way out of the darkness and out of the fade. Bilal Qureshi, NPR News.

1 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

2 thrillers   

n.紧张刺激的故事( thriller的名词复数 )；戏剧；令人感到兴奋的事；（电影）惊悚片

参考例句：

• He has written seven thrillers, and clearly enjoys intellectual pursuits. 他已经写了7本惊悚小说，显然很喜欢这样的智力活动。 来自辞典例句
• Most Americans prefer to read fast-moving adventure stories that we call "thrillers". 大部分美国人喜欢看我们称之为"惊险小说"的情节多变的冒险故事。 来自辞典例句

3 espionage   

n.间谍行为，谍报活动

参考例句：

• The authorities have arrested several people suspected of espionage.官方已经逮捕了几个涉嫌从事间谍活动的人。
• Neither was there any hint of espionage in Hanley's early life.汉利的早期生活也毫无进行间谍活动的迹象。

4 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 akin   

adj.同族的，类似的

参考例句：

• She painted flowers and birds pictures akin to those of earlier feminine painters.她画一些同早期女画家类似的花鸟画。
• Listening to his life story is akin to reading a good adventure novel.听他的人生故事犹如阅读一本精彩的冒险小说。

7 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

8 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

9 cordoned   

v.封锁，用警戒线围住( cordon的过去式 )

参考例句：

• Police cordoned off the area until the bomb was defused. 警方封锁了这个地区直到炸弹被拆除为止。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Police cordoned off the road and diverted commuter traffic. 警察封锁了道路并分流交通。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 interrogating   

n.询问技术v.询问( interrogate的现在分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询

参考例句：

• She was no longer interrogating but lecturing. 她已经不是在审问而是在教训人了。 来自辞典例句
• His face remained blank, interrogating, slightly helpless. 他的面部仍然没有表情，只带有询问的意思，还有点无可奈何。 来自辞典例句

12 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

13 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

15 socialist   

n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的

参考例句：

• China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家，也是一个发展中国家。
• His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。

16 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

17 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

18 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

19 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。