Young Burov (Vladislav Abashin, THE HOUSE OF SUN) and his older more cynical partner Voitik (Sergei Kolesov) steal into a Belarusian village in the dead of night in order to execute Sushenya (Vladimir Svirskiy, 4 DAYS IN MAY), a railway operator suspected of collaboration with the Nazis as the only one of a group of innocent men not hanged for the sabotage of a railway track. Although he continues to protest his innocent, Sushenya seems strangely resigned to his fate. When the trio are ambushed by German police, Sushenya tends to a wounded Burov rather than escaping and helps Voitik attempt to get the wounded, dying man back to village where he has been hiding out eve since fleeing his own home. As they steal through the woods by night and hide out by day, the viewer is privy to flashbacks of the situations which lead them - for better or worse - to make the difficult choices that have brought them to their current circumstances.

Seemingly epic at first with its period war setting and two-hour-plus running time, IN THE FOG - based on a novel by Belarusian author Vasili Bykov (which had previously been adapted for television in 1992) - is actually an intimate story about difficult choices and their unexpected outcomes. The choice Burov makes may seem frivolous and has consequences for his mother and sister - he resents the Nazis for confiscating the truck he handbuilt and then requesting he fix it when it breaks down - but he might have thought about what more he might be asked to do later if he relents. Sushenya's noble decision not to inform on his friends and hang with them is expertly manipulated by the enemy (here personified by his own boss who has secured the loyalty of his workers by claiming the Nazis would kill him if he didn't continue working and then subsequently donned the uniform himself). Voitik's own story is the least interesting and the most predictable, but it is also suggestive of other events that shaped his more cynical character. The structure is very precise with three twenty-minute present day segments broken up by three twenty-minute flashbacks (with the rest of the running time split between a teaser opening and the end credits) - director Sergei Loznitsa is a seasoned documentary filmmaker with only one other feature (MY JOY) under his belt - that only appears straightforward and undemanding.