The already battered “the exorcist” director William Friedkin wanted to make a film with eighty. However, his production company insisted on protection if it fails in the middle. None other than Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”) then agreed as a “backup director”. The three -time Oscar winner came to the set every day, sat in a corner – and watched his idol (without a fee!) At work. An admirable honor and a touching story. William Friedkin was able to finish “the Caine-Meuterei in court”, but died before the world premiere at the film festival in Venice.
At Fatih Akin (“against the wall”) and his sponsor, collaborator and good friend Hark Bohm, it would have been going out to a very similar deal. The filmmaker, born in Hamburg in 1939 (“North Sea is Mordsee”), wanted to film his childhood memories to the last war days spent on the North Frisian Islands. But then the forces decreased so much before shooting that Akin took over the project as a director. In the opening credits of “Amrum” That is why it also means unusual, but appropriately “a Hark Bohm Film from Fatih Akin”. The deep, honestly felt respect that Akin has opposite his 85-year-old mentor can be felt in every setting.
Because she grows the potatoes for the whole island, the farmer Tessa Bendixen (Diane Krüger) has a highlight of the AMRUM.
After school, the twelve -year -old Nanning Hagener (Jasper Billerbeck) of the neighboring farmer Tessa Bendixen (Diane Krüger) helps on the potato rack to get some butter and milk for his family as a reward. On the mainland, the Russian army is just about Berlin – and most Amrumers can no longer wait for the Second World War to finally come to an end. Another wind is blowing at Nanning at home: his absent father is finally a high animal with the Nazis (including the author of the Blutschande bestseller “Biological High Brain”)-and his pregnant mother Hille (Laura Tonke) is also a convinced National Socialist.
When a few days later the news was spread that Adolf Hitler fell “in the self -sacrificing fight against the Bolsheviks”, this is a reason for many to celebrate. But for the Hille, which is lost at this moment, the world collapses. She hardly comes out of bed depressed, she doesn't want to eat anything anymore. Only on a white bread with butter and honey she would have an appetite. For Nanning, who takes his mother's wish for bare coin, this is the beginning of an eventful island-occurrence. Because getting all the necessary ingredients together is of course anything but easy, especially in the first post -war days …
Personally
08/15 promotion films about the time of the Second World War no longer needs a person. After all, school classes are no longer looking at something like that. So there are two other ways to approach the topic today-the experimental like “The Zone of Interest” or one through and through a subjective person, as Hark Bohm has now chosen in his memory-driven script for “Amrum”: that even the search for buttercutting suddenly survival and most Amrumer, to which nanning meets, it is easy Happed caricatures, is absolutely conclusive in view of the child's perspective.
There is suddenly only one goal for Nanning-and the way there is almost a little reminds of classic Adventure games like “Monkey Island”: At low tide you have to cross the watt to Föhr in order to make the solution of the Hitler youth without errors at the Nazi-Unkel Onno (Jan Georg Schütte), and then get a few spoons of sugar, and then at the island beekeeper for a little bit Exchange honey. For the white bread and the butter there are similar (solution) chains that bring Nanning together with all sorts of Amrum originals: for the flat-blind fisherman Sam Gangsters (Detlev Buck), he even has to pretend on a sandbar as a seal in order to lure the males out of the water and in front of Sam's shotgun.
Nanning would do everything for his mother Hille (Laura Tonke) – even if he is far less firmly convinced of National Socialism than her.
In view of the dark time, “Amrum” is a surprisingly sunny and entertaining film. Finally, the Allied aircraft drop off their explosive cargo shortly before the island – and not even for the bombing, but to reduce the ballast for the return flight. In addition, the narrative – precisely because of its emphasized subjectivity – is crammed up to the top with small details about the island life during the war, which could hardly be seen in a conventional, historically sound film about this time in this density.
At the same time, you ask yourself what exactly is Fatih Akin's contribution to “Amrum”? In any case, his own attitude is rather not recognizable, probably if only because he wanted to leave his friend's memories as unaffected as possible. Instead, Akin has inflated the really small, personal narrative to a large cinema: on the one hand, he visually gives you visually powerful impression, especially with some unusual drone shots from Amrum and nightly beach scenes with an almost magical starry sky.
Matthias Schweighöfer also stops (super short)
On the other hand, he also seems to have telephoned his address book in order to occupy every role as small with the largest possible star. Probably again from the desire to offer Hark Bohm only the best. But while his “out of nowhere” main actress Diane Krüger In her maximum-five-minute role as a resolute farmer, Matthias Schweighöfer can be seen in a photo most of the time before he actually appears for no more than 30 seconds. Such a mere namedropping tears out of the film rather than that the extra stars could add something to the film.
Conclusion: A very personal childhood memory by filmmaker Hark Bohm is pimped up by his good friend Fatih Akin in “Amrum” with all the funds available to him – and largely successful.
We saw “Amrum” at the Cannes Film Festival 2025, where he celebrated his world premiere in the Cannes premiere section.