Director Fatih Akin stages a quiet, visually stunning drama about a child in the chaos of the last days of the war.
After successes like “Gegen die Wand”, “Tschick” and “Rheingold”, director Fatih Akin is now showing his softest side. “Amrum” is not a loud cinema event, not a spectacle, but a deeply human drama that depicts the last days of the Second World War on the North Frisian island. Inspired by the childhood memories of his mentor Hark Bohm, Akin tells the story of twelve-year-old Nanning.
A film as simple as white bread, butter and honey
Nanning (played touchingly by Jasper Billerbeck) lives with his heavily pregnant mother Hille (Laura Tonke), his two siblings and aunt Ena (Lisa Hagmeister) on the island of Amrum. His father is a high-ranking Nazi official and his mother is an ardent supporter of Hitler.
But when the leader dies, not only does a regime collapse, Hille's world also collapses. After the birth of her fourth child, his mother falls into depression. The only thing she wants to eat: white bread with butter and honey. Getting this simple meal for his mother becomes Nanning's mission.
Scene from “Amrum”
The ambivalence of the post-war period
Akin tells this story not with pathos, but with tender observation. His gaze remains on the child's perspective: the remnants of an ideology that is increasingly losing itself, the conflict between loyalty and moral awakening.
Every encounter that Nanning experiences on the island – such as with the farmer's wife Tessa (Diane Kruger), with his best friend Hermann and his grandfather Arjan (Lars Jessen) or even his Nazi uncle – becomes a mirror for the cinema audience of the ambivalent experience of a child in the post-war period.
Scene from “Amrum”
A film that quietly resonates
Instead of overwhelming the viewer with a historical drama, Akin relies on subtle nuances in combination with powerful visual impressions: His direction is reserved but precise, while Karl Walter Lindenlaub's camera (known from “Independence Day”) captures the vastness of Amrum in breathtaking images. This is precisely the power of the film, which is based on a handwritten script by Hark Bohm.
Overall, “Amrum” reminds us that wars, when they end, bring the long-awaited peace, but, above all, have repercussions and consequences for future generations that are incomprehensible from a child's perspective. It's a film about growing up in a world that is currently falling apart and in whose breaking you have to find your way as a child.
“Amrum” is not a film that you watch “quickly”. He is someone who should be given time to resonate. Anyone who previously knew Fatih Akin as the director of great emotions and loud conflicts will be surprised: this work is quiet, almost poetic. A visit to the cinema is recommended. It's a film that reminds us of something.