Don’t let these topics ‘fade away’

I only just had the opportunity to watch German-Turkish director Fatih Akın’s film “In the Fade.” From Akın’s perspective, the film is a giant success, winning the 2018 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. As for its leading actor Diane Kruger, she took home the award for Best Actress at Cannes 2017, which she had long deserved.

For Germany, it was exciting as “In the Fade” was one of the nine foreign-language features picked to the Oscar short list of this year. But the real story is that the film is very important when looked from the perspective of everyone living in Europe, as it touches on the danger of racism and xenophobia. The film was awarded and reached a wide audience, eventually leading hate crimes to be talked about more widely, which even by itself deserves applause.

As shown in the film, neo-Nazis are becoming well-organized in countries from Germany to Greece, sometimes in legal political parties and often carrying out acts of violence. I hope that “faded” crimes, just like the name of the film, are able to be brought back to the fore and be discussed with such films.

As you know, a person of Middle Eastern origin is often a suspect in Europe in criminal cases. And when something bad happens to a “foreigner,” the general trend in the West is not to suspect a white European or to think of the possibility it was a hate crime. On the contrary, stories about the foreigner’s own environment and their own “criminal potential” (often referring to “internal feuds”) are dwelled upon. “In the Fade” shows that process taking place.

In the film, the police think Nuri Şekerci, the husband of the character played by Diane Kruger, has been killed in connection to his previous background of drug selling. The possibility of a neo-Nazi murder is confirmed only thanks to the persistence of Katja, played by Kruger.

Akın has said himself that “Katja reflects my own fears and anger.” Indeed, Akın’s name, along with many other politicians and artists, reportedly appeared on a neo-Nazi death list a couple of years before the film was made.

I certainly recommend that you watch the film, which has already prompted many questions and debates.

World Cup

Usually I don’t understand football, don’t follow it, and don’t get excited about it. But recently I was exposed to the Portugal vs. Spain match in the World Cup. And thank God I was!

Ronaldo scored an angular, spinning goal for Portugal that even I, who have no idea whatsoever about football, had to appreciate!

Since that game I have watched others in the tournament, and this marks a big change of lifestyle for me!

Unfortunately, in these matches I have not been able to recapture the excitement of that Spain-Portugal game. Once again I find myself going cold on football. After all, it is the kind of sport where you have to sit around for 90 minutes just to see two goals.

Until the World Cup final, I will not likely show much of an interest in football. The summer holiday season has arrived to distract us, and of course the June 24 snap presidential and parliamentary elections on the way.

Still, finally I have a football memory to speak of in the coming years, a goal to describe. So thanks to Ronaldo for getting me interested in football again, even if only for a short period of time.