Dans la brume

"In the fog" is a movie with a complicated story about loyalty and betrayal in a Second World War resistance group.

"In the fog" loosely resembles "Rashomon" (1950, Akira Kurosawa), with the emphasis on loosely. In "Rashomon" there are various alternative versions of the truth. The conclusion is that perhaps such a thing as the single ultimate truth does not exist. In "In the fog" there is an ultimate truth, but in reality the way thinks look like is often far more important and influential than the way things really are.

Belarus is not a country with a real film tradition, and I am always interested in films from such "forgotten" (in the sense of film history) areas. Sometimes is is not a single director who attracts attention, but a whole new wave of promising directors. Take for example Romania where in a few years directors such as Cristi Puiu ("The death of Mr Lazarescu", 2005), Corneliu Porumboiu ("12:08 East of Buchares", 2006) and last but not least Cristian Mungiu ("Four month, three weeks and two days", 2007) scored a big hit in the Western art house cinema's. By the way Oleg Mutu, the cinematographer of Cristian Mungiu, also shot "In the fog".

However, director Sergey Loznitsa did not start a Belorussian new wave. He made documentaries before "In the fog", and he continued making documentaries after it. One exception is the movie "Donbass" from 2018. This film is situated in the east of the Ukraine and shows the influence of fake news on society in the post thruth era. In this respect "Donbass" further elaborates on the themes already visible in "In the fog".