In the opening scene of this deceptively low-keyed film, three men are hustled to a gallows set up in a Belorussian village square and hanged while children play, vendors sell, and a Nazi official reads a statement. A fourth prisoner, Sushenya, has been released without explanation. To the resistance, this is proof of betrayal and two partisans, Burov and Voitik, visit Sushenya in the night and walk him into the woods to conduct their own, covert execution. Once there, however, something happens that makes simply shooting this presumed traitor far more complicated than any of the three men anticipated. Director Sergei Loznitsa uses a beautifully muted palette of colors, silvery in night scenes, pale gold in daytime shots, and the absence of any musical soundtrack enhances the simplicity of his approach. Only voices and sounds, the bark of an order, the crackle of brush, the occasional sharp report of a gun, punctuate this story of defiance, guilt, and the nature of betrayal. Sushenya is both innocent and principled, but in the fog of war, does that really matter? In the Fog, which was awarded the FIRPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, is an adaptation of a novel by Belarusian writer Vasily Bykov.