The Fox Film Review

For directors who write their own material, family history is a goldmine frequently tapped. Australian Tony Ayres fictionalized his childhood in “The Home Song Stories”, which I discussed in last week’s review. Adrian Goiginger, a young director from Austria, also draws from his family experiences. His first feature, “The Best of All Worlds” (2017), is a portrait of his drug-addicted mother and her circle.

As a youth, Goiginger was also fascinated by the life of his great-grandfather, a World War II veteran. The prescient Goiginger recorded his relative’s stories on tape and is now sharing them. His first effort, a short film entitled “Franz” (2019), is set in occupied France in 1940. With feature film “The Fox” (2022), Goiginger goes deeper into his great-grandfather's psyche, presenting a character who takes refuge in nature after experiencing extreme trauma as a child and the consequent alienation from his fellow human beings.

The film opens in 1927 when Franz Streitberger was eight years old. Far from the glittering Austrian capital Vienna, the Streitberger family ekes out a living on an Alpine farm. Franz’s fate is foreshadowed in the song he sings while foraging for potatoes, “we used to eat cakes, now we eat roots.” While fetching water one day, he collapses from exhaustion and hunger. This leads to the defining moment in Franz’s life. His father signs over custody of the child to a prosperous farmer, an agreement akin to indentured servitude.

Franz is given no warning. As he runs to his mother for protection, she slams the door in his face. His father turns his back on Franz while he wails “I’ll never be sick again. I promise.” The scene is emotionally wrenching because Franz has no understanding of his parents’ actions. While poverty is the real enemy, Franz is left with a corrosive feeling of being betrayed by his family.

The film then cuts to 1937, when 18-year-old Franz is released from his contract. Hungry and feeling adrift, Franz joins the army, not realizing that he is opting for another form of servitude with the onset of WWII. His unit is transferred to Germany and the Western Front. After a dinner scene in which Franz is chastised by his fellow soldiers for hoarding food, he heads into a nearby forest to express his deep anger and frustration. He is approached by a wounded fox cub, whose mother lies dead in a nearby steel trap. Franz, who exhibits a stronger kinship with animals than humans, takes the fox back to his barracks.

A motorcycle courier, Franz takes advantage of his vehicle’s storage compartment to hide the cub. The bond that develops between the two allows Franz to have the family relationship that was denied him as a child. As the war intensifies, however, it is clear that Franz cannot keep the now adult fox. In a scene that mirrors the film’s opening, Franz assumes the role of the father who must separate from his child. As he screams “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” from his transport to the Eastern Front, the bewildered fox is left to fend for himself.

There are no battle scenes in “The Fox” as it is not strictly a war film. Politics, too, take a back seat. There are several scenes which make clear that French women were a target of rape by the occupying army, but filmmaker Goiginger keeps the focus strictly on the individual experience of his great-grandfather. Goiginger said “The Fox” would work well as a silent film and I agree. He is a filmmaker whose thoughtful use of images allows the audience to be an active participant in the story. The ending, which I won’t reveal, is a scene sans dialogue and I cannot imagine anyone who would not be affected by its power.

Click here to watch “The Fox” on Amazon Prime Video.

Rams Film Review

The Home Song Stories and Halfway Review