In the Fade: Motherhood, Grief and Neo-Nazi Terrorism in Contemporary Germany

Abstract

In her chapter Elena Caoduro explores far-right terrorism in Fatih Akin’s film, In the Fade (2017), focusing on the representation of a grieving mother and the blurring of the conventions of the action film and melodrama. Differently from other contemporary films about terrorism which take the perspective of the perpetrators, or those fighting terrorism, Akin shifts the attention to the victims and survivors of terrorist violence proposing a visceral portrayal of bereavement and revenge. Following the tripartite subdivision of the film in chapters, Caoduro argues that space (the domestic space, the institutional space of the courthouse, and the natural landscape of Greece) becomes a social environment where motherhood, grief and violence are intertwined because power and gender relations are often negotiated and embedded through setting.