Left adrift as Nazism falls, a village mayor encourages an end-of-days mentality while others resist in Tony Vahl’s formally impressive, relentlessly heavy-going debut.
By Guy Lodge
Plus IconGuy Lodge
Film Critic
@guylodge See All
We’re used to films about hope and rejuvenation in the final days of the Second World War, but there’s a more novel perspective to be found in “Krux” — set in an isolated village in northeast Germany, where many of the locals have been so brainwashed by Nazism that the end of the war may as well be the end of the world. Tony Vahl’s ultra-stern, intensely atmospheric debut feature cultivates such a siloed mood of apocalyptic despair that you can almost, in the very low-lit moment, forget the historical context for all this doomsaying. It’s an effective evocation of the lasting effects of totalitarian gaslighting, even on a populace no longer beholden to the regime in question — and one that feels relevant to a contemporary political landscape of cultish extremist loyalties.
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