Welcome back to Movie Recaps.
Today I will show you a drama film from 2016, titled Fog in August.
Spoilers ahead!
Watch out and take care.
In Germany in 1944, Yenish boy Ernst Lossa is being sent to a mental institution led
by Doctor Werner Veithausen.
Together with his assistant Doctor Paul Hechtle, Werner checks Ernst's profile sent by the
boy's previous residences and discovers Ernst is considered a thief and a troublemaker,
but Ernst denies it and Werner decides to assign him to the manual labor group.
He also checks Ernst's scars on his back and promises there's no physical punishment in
this institution.
Hearing this plus the fact he won't have to go to school makes Ernst hope.
Sadly, that hope is shattered when he's given a tour of the place and he notices it's filled
with people with special needs.
Ernst tries to explain he doesn't belong here but he's ignored, so then he's taken to get
a full medical check-up and his head shaved.
Afterward, Ernst is sent outside to begin working on manual labor.
A teenage boy called Christoph bullies him, but Ernst manages to befriend the boys his
age, including Hermann.
When night falls, they sleep in a communal bedroom, and Ernst notices how the doctors
must tie Oja to the bed because of his mental state.
After the doctors are gone, Hermann takes Ernst with him to show him a way to reach
a dormer on the roof that allows them to climb out and enjoy the lights caused by the British
dropping bombs in the distance.
Meanwhile, Werner gives Paul the names of three boys he must get ready for transfer.
Paul protests when he sees Christoph is among them, explaining he is doing better nowadays
and this would mean fewer hands for labor.
However, Werner can't do anything about it, since these are the orders they get from the
Hadamar Euthanasia Centre.
In fact, in Berlin people get paid for putting people on the list, even if it's just thirty
cents per name.
The following morning, while doing his chores, Ernst meets sick child Toni and plays with
him for a while.
Their fun is interrupted by the arrival of Max Witt, the forensic assistant, who tells
Ernst he'll be helping him from now on.
He also informs Hermann that his parents have come to take him home, so Earnst watches the
reunion through the window while trying to convince himself that his own father will
come for him too.
On the way to the lab, Ernst notices Toni having an epileptic attack on the floor.
Witt rushes to help one of the nurses Sister Sophia to hold the boy down, so Ernst takes
the chance to look around the infirmary and finds a girl called Amelie on her bed, humming
as a way to ask for food.
Ernst grabs the plate and begins feeding her, which surprises Sophia because Amelie usually
doesn't let anyone feed her except for the nun, so Ernst agrees to come every day to
help with that too.
A few hours later, Witt is done with his dissection, so Ernst's job as his new helper is to wash
the table and the tools.
The sight of so much blood makes Ernsts' stomach turn.
The next morning, there's quite a commotion in the bedroom because Christoph is trying
to run away from the doctors that chase him.
Unfortunately, he's caught anyway and put in a black bus that will take him to the euthanasia
center, but the patients, including Ernst, don't know this.
Afterward, Ernst's mood is improved when he's visited by his father Christian, who promises
to take him out of here so they can escape together to the USA.
Christian talks to Werner to get the paperwork done, but since he doesn't have a permanent
address, Werner can't legally allow him to take Ernst.
Desperate, Christian begs for an exception because he was recently released from a concentration
camp and now he works as a street vendor, but Werner's word is final - he even points
out that in times like this, Ernst will be safer in the facility than with his father
on the streets.
Before leaving, Christian gives Ernst a heartfelt goodbye, promising to come back for him in
the future and gifting him his necklace.
A few days later, Ernst notices Paul has left his keys on a door and tries to steal one,
but he's caught in the act by Nandl, who points out he isn't being discreet.
In the meantime, Werner calls Sophia and Paul to his office to give them some big news:
the Hadamar Euthanasia Centre has been shut down, so now they'll have more patients and
therefore extra work to do.
After Sophia leaves the office, Werner confesses to Paul there's more: from now on, they'll
be putting down the kids themselves, and closing the center is just an act to please the people
that protested against the black buses.
Anyone willing to help will receive extra pay each month, so Paul accepts the deal and
is told what to do.
Officially, they'll say the kids die of bronchopneumonia when actually they'll be given barbiturate,
which is a nervous system depressant.
To help with this process, Werner hires Sister Kiefer as a new nurse.
After the doctor checks on all the kids in the infirmary, he decides on the next three
names and hands them to Kiefer, who asks for raspberry juice to mix the barbiturate in
because it helps cover the bad taste.
The next day, Ernst gets to play with all the other kids outside and spend some time
with Nandl, learning more about her.
Like Ernst's mother, Nandl's both parents are dead, and she's in this hospital because
she has epilepsy.
To lighten the mood, Ernst reads Nandl's palm and tells her she's got a life line that doesn't
end.
In the evening, while Ernst is feeding Amelie, he notices Kiefer making Toni drink a whole
cup of juice.
Sometime later, Werner gives Paul ten patient names who from now on must only be fed vegetable
soup.
Sophia finds Toni dead on his bed, and both she and Ernst lament losing him.
Werner checks on the three new bodies, pretending this is an unexpected turn of events, and
tells Witt to write down bronchopneumonia as the cause of death.
Once the paperwork is signed, Witt proceeds with the dissection to send the brains to
Berlin, and at the end of the procedure, Ernst must clean the blood again.
During the funeral, Ernst asks Witt what happened to the kids and can't understand how it could've
been bronchopneumonia when not so long ago Toni had been playing soccer.
Afterward, the kids are sent to the forest to gather wood, but Ernst is too upset to
work and walks away from the group.
Nandl finds him out and scolds him for being lazy, but their argument suddenly gets interrupted
when she has an epileptic attack.
Ernst holds her down during it, and later when they return to the hospital, Nandl kisses
his cheek as thanks.
In the evening, Sophia talks to Werner in private to inform him that she thinks Kiefer
is killing the children.
Werner admits they're still working with the euthanasia program, but this time they get
to choose what kids don't have a chance to recover.
Sophia is appalled so Werner calls out her hypocrisy because she used to take kids to
the black buses too.
Meanwhile, Ernst shows Nandl Hermann's spot on the roof and tells her a bit about his
people's culture, explaining she can ask a Yenish person one life wish and that person
can't turn it down.
Nandl thinks hard about her wish and, after realizing getting to ice-skate again isn't
important enough, she decides she'll think of a better wish later.
The next day, Sophia goes to see the Archbishop to tell him what's going on in the mental
institution.
The Archbishop promises to write to Rome to see what they can do, but it'll be hard because
of the current political situation - he also asks her to keep working there so they can
have an informant inside.
As days pass, more kids die and the graves in the cemetery quickly multiply.
Werner keeps an eye on the ten patients that are being fed only soup and Paul points out
all of them have lost weight.
Ernst continues to help in the infirmary feeding Amelie, and one afternoon, he notices Paul
has left the keys on the door again.
This time Ernst does manage to steal one right before Kiefer comes over to give Amelie the
special juice.
Amelie won't accept the drink, so Ernst offers to feed her himself, but when he comes closer,
he pretends to trip and spills the juice on the floor.
Kiefer leaves the infirmary to mix more juice at the same time Sophia comes over and congratulates
Ernst on what he did.
By the time Kiefer comes back, Ernst is cleaning the floor and Amelie is nowhere to be seen.
Not believing Ernst when he says Amelie just walked away, Kiefer decides to give the juice
to a different child instead.
After she's gone, Sophia rushes in and makes the kid throw up.
Werner suddenly shows up with Kiefer and asks Sophia to go with him, so she asks Ernst to
finish cleaning the child up and hands him a handkerchief with her room key hidden in
it.
Once they're gone, Kiefer tells Ernst about the time she found a deer with broken legs
in the forest.
She wanted to take care of it, but her father put it down, explaining that keeping it would
only prolong its suffering.
After she leaves, Ernst rushes to Sophia's room and finds Amelie on her bed, so he picks
her up and hides.
Sophia arrives with Werner and Kiefer then, who proceed to investigate the room: they
check under the bed and inside the wardrobe, but Amelie is nowhere to be found.
Kiefer leaves with an apology, and Werner is also gone but only after telling Sophia
that if she doesn't like things are done here, she should quit.
Then, Sophia opens the window to let Ernst and Amelie back inside, and a scared Ernst
hugs her.
Paul is sent to search for Amelie, first in the hospital and then around town, while Werner
leaves for a special meeting with some military higher-ups.
During dinner, he serves everyone the soup he's developed in the hospital - it tastes
fine, but it's boiled to the point it's lost all its nutrients.
With this soup, they can slowly kill patients through hunger without getting as much suspicion,
and this earns Werner his superiors' approval - they even go as far as planning to send
this idea to all the hospitals in the country.
Meanwhile, Ernst learns from the other kids that it's Nandl's birthday, so when night
falls, he uses the key he stole to sneak out with her through the basement.
The kids make it to a nearby lake where Ernst takes Nandl on a boat ride under the moonlight,
promising one day he'll take her ice-skating on Lake Michigan.
They only leave when the British begin dropping bombs not very far from there again.
The next day, Werner gives Paul a new order: any person that can't work will only be fed
soup.
Kiefer still uses the juice too though, and this causes one of Nandl's friends to die.
Everyone sees the body being taken out of the communal girl's bedroom and Oja has a
break down.
First, he clings to the girl's body while crying his heart out, then he jumps on Paul
when the doctor comes closer.
Oja calls him a killer while pushing him against a locker with furious strength, so it takes
a few doctors to hold him down and inject him with a sedative.
Later, Paul informs Werner that Oja keeps spitting out the juice, so he offers to inject
the barbiturate directly, which Werner approves.
Ernst and Nandl discuss what happened, feeling frustrated for not being able to help their
friends.
Ernst decides they need to escape before they're next, and he can just send his father a message
later.
First they're going to need provisions, so during lunch, they sneak food under the table
and hide it in a bag Nandl has stolen.
To hide what they're doing, Ernst makes a scene by complaining about the fish they've
been served, even going as far as hitting the plate to send the fish to the ceiling.
Soon everyone around him is copying him, but their laughter is interrupted by the sound
of an alarm: the British bombings are finally happening close enough to the hospital.
Everyone runs to the bunker except Ernst and Nandl, who hide under the table and wait for
everyone to leave so they can escape.
The pair makes it to the basement and is shocked to find Sophia there, still protecting Amelie.
Sophia urges them to take the chance to run, but as soon as Ernst and Nandl make it to
the window, a bomb falls too close and fills the room with dust.
Suddenly, debris begins falling all over the basement: Nandl gets a few injuries, but unfortunately,
Sophia and Amelie die.
The next day during the funeral, Werner gives a speech, pointing out how important Sophia
had been for his vision.
After the ceremony, Werner tries to tell Ernst it was his fault, but Ernst doesn't take it
and begins insulting Werner, calling him a liar and a murderer.
Werner ignores him and leaves him behind, crying.
In the evening, Ernst visits Nandl, who gives him the bag with the provisions and asks him
to leave without her.
Since Ernst refuses to leave her behind, Nandl decides to use her life wish for this.
Ernst knows he can't turn down a life wish, so he promises he will escape after gifting
Nandl his father's necklace.
To be able to leave though, Ernst needs everyone to go to bed so he can sneak around, this
leaves him sitting outside the infirmary waiting for the moment the corridors get empty.
In the meantime, Werner makes a new list of names that will die and includes Ernst in
it, which makes Paul protest because Ernst is healthy and a good worker.
However Werner is done with him, pointing out that such a dirty gypsy has already been
given enough opportunities and he didn't take them.
Paul finds Ernst outside the infirmary and takes him to a bed, but he can't bring himself
to kill a healthy child, so Werner sends Kiefer for help.
When morning comes, Nandl sees a raven on her window and guesses what happen before
Witt brings her the news.
Making an extra effort to leave the bed because she's still hurt, Nandl goes to the mess hall
and tells everyone Ernst has finally made it to the USA.
This makes everyone extremely happy, and to celebrate this newfound hope, they hit their
plates to send their food to the ceiling.
The real Ernst was killed on August 9th, 1944.
The culprit was never found because everyone in the hospital kept blaming each other for
it.
The euthanasia program continued for fifty-four more days after Germany lost the war, and
the director in charge got a sentence of three years in prison.
However, he use his health as an excuse not to be able to stay in jail and was freed quickly.
The assistant doctor got one year, and the nurse got four years, after which she worked
again as a pediatric nurse.
Over two hundred thousand people died in this euthanasia program, but Nandl is a fictional
character, created to symbolize all survivors.