Nebel im August

... given that German films on the subject usually let you feel somewhat detached. Whenever the Holocaust is concerned, German filmmakers tend to try to do everything according to the book, as meticulously factual as possible, so viewers can easily feel lectured.

There is a good deal of that strife for perfection in here as well, as a whole lot of neglected issues are crammed into this one film: the Nazi euthanasia program involving feeding patients nutrition-less food called "Ersatzkost", substitute nourishment. The silent acquiescence of the Catholic church to mass murder carried out in institutions under their formal patronage. The lumping together of all kinds of "undesirables" labeled mentally unfit to live. And in the guise of the lead, the still unfilmed "Porrajmos" (which means "devouring"), the destruction of much of Europe's Romani population no one cares about until today.

It's all a bit much and doesn't help the narrative structure, but there is a lot to learn, even for those who've seen a good deal of films about the subject. Apart from "Schindler's List", hardly any film explains the ideology and motivation behind these crimes. The extremely fascinating - while sickening - quality of this film is that it shows doctors and nurses murdering children without any malice, all in the name of the "greater cause" of racial purity. As incredibly inhumane this seems to the viewer - and the sole heroine of the story, a catholic nun - the sources from that time indicate that this was indeed how the culprits thought. Sebastian Koch, whom I usually find rather wooden, brings this uncanny mix of "scientific" curiosity and complete lack of conscience perfectly across. It's his best film, better than "The Lives of Others".

What this film is not is the heavily overdue film about the persecution of gypsies. It's misleading to call the protagonist Ernst Lossa a Rom, he was a Jenische, they are non-ethnic travellers like in Ireland and don't speak Romanes. They mostly reside in Switzerland, where Jenische children were taken away from their families to "socialize" them until 1968... as you see, there remain many, many more stories to tell.

I am a nurse, I feel sick in My stomach. Just reading that the doctor and nurse doing All these killings of children and adults, just got maximum 4 years in prison, and still could work as a nurse after the prisontime. It is disqusting, these murderers should have gotten life in prison or the death penalty.

A great movie, in nazi Germany told from a childs point of view. How horrible some humans can be. The involuntary euthanasia program in Nazi Germany was one of the worse things in the history of Germany. So many children killed, children that clearly could live a long life in good care, but nazi Germany needed money for their warmachine, not using it on mental sick People. So killing them was cheaper and as the nazi also believed, making their Country free of handicapped and mental sick persons. But as we All know, being a Nazi is the most mental sick you can be...

A very good movie where it shows the great performance of the new generation of German actors. It tells a story very little shown in the history of the cinema about the systematic murders in Germans not worth living because of their mental or physical disability.

Considering the horrors of both the euthanasia program as well as the mass-murder of romani people and disabled in nazi-germany and the fact that we don't hear that much about this part of history, Nebel im August (Fog in August) has an important role to play. What could've been over-blown melodrama is a rather simple story about a young boy in the cold, isolated german hospital. The portrait is filled with authentic looks, almost to the point of feeling a bit flat but Ivo Pietzcker as the lead fills the film with a glow. It's sometimes crippled by a hamfisted storytelling, but does manage to convey an interesting image of the nazi program without feeling too didactic, proving that there's still important stories from this time in history worth telling on screen.

Firstly, I'd like to give my interpretation of what the title "Fog in August" means, since a previous reviewer was rather baffled at the title. The "fog" (nebel) was the deception employed by the administration when continuing the T4 (euthanasia) programme even though it had "officially" been abandoned by the Nazis. The "August" is the summer - the season that the film was obviously set in.

The two nurses are worthy of a mention here because they defy the stereotype: one, the hatchet-faced Catholic dogmatist is the true humanitarian. The other, an attractive, sweet talking and easy-going blue eyed young woman, is the reliable child killer, using raspberry juice to keep the lethal dose of barbiturate down. On the other hand, the medical director is a man who seems determined to see his projects through with efficiency no matter what the cost - the epitome of a Nazi stooge stereotype (but a well defined and well acted one).

The children were portrayed brilliantly. There are touching and realistic moments here that don't descend into sentimentality and help you to empathize with the victims rather than merely sympathize.

This film is difficult to watch but it has to be, because it's portraying an event in history many people would rather not contemplate. An event that occurred at a time when many people went mad in the wake of recession and populist extremism. It's a warning from history put into film. And it's a well acted and considered warning at that.