A pesar de la niebla

Goran Paskaljevic is a Serbian director, probably known for his darkly comic Cabaret Balkan aka. Bure Baruta, has come out with his latest full length feature, this time shot in Italy, featuring Italian and Middle Eastern actors and spoken in Italian. The whole premise of the movie is focusing on refugee children who have lost their parents get lost in Europe and this movie is about one of them.

The movie focuses on Valeria and Paolo, a married couple grieving over their loss of their deceased son, Marco. Meanwhile, a refugee named Mohammed roams the streets alone after losing his parents and is suddenly picked up by the childless couple, who decided to adopt him against the wishes of their own people, therefore had to go through the xenophobic stigma, or as we put it, "the fog".

The movie does a good job at tackling issues on the refugee crisis and xenophobia, but there's less clarity when it comes to mental health issues, especially about Valeria and her depression. Besides, the movie is technically good.

Despite the Fog is a rather flawed but heartfelt, intimate little movie with a poetic approach. If only a little more clarity is added on previously mentioned subject matter with a bit more substance to it, then it would be more than enough.