Amrum
In 1945 when the farmer he works for, Tessa Bendixen (Diane Kruger), notes that the war will soon be over, twelve year-old Nanning (newcomer Jasper Billerbeck) asks when his father is coming home at dinner that night. His mother Hille (Laura Tonke, "Winter Sleepers") grills him about just who told him the war was ending, declaring such a statement dishonorable, until his Aunt Ena (Lisa Hagmeister) steps in, but, having figured it out, Hille reports Tessa to Nanning's Uncle Onno (Jan Georg Schutte), the local Nazi officer stationed on the North Sea island of "Amrum."
Laura's Review: B+
With a loving gesture to his filmmaking mentor whose childhood memories inspired the screenplay, German Turkish director Fatih Akin ("Head-On," "In the Fade") credits his latest as 'A Hark Bohm film by Fatih Akin.' Bohm, who appears as himself at the end of the film and passed away in 2025, had intended to make the film himself, but instead asked Akin to take the helm. The film is unlike any other in Akin's filmography, a coming of age tale coupled with the disillusionment of learning just how Nanning's parents' investment in Hitler's Nazi party affected his own family as well as his country.
In addition to being stigmatized by his parents' politics, Nanning apparently the sole member of the Hitler Youth on the island, he'll be bullied at school for not being a true Amrumer, having moved to the island from Hamburg after the war began. His mother assures him Amrum is his heritage though, the home 'gated' by a whale's jaw representing the island's main industry, having been in her family for generations. The home's library contains a copy of Melville's 'Moby Dick,' a book Hille agrees he can lend to his best friend, Hermann Bendixen (Kian Köppke), who remains a friend despite his mother having driven the boy off her farm, calling him a snitch. Unfortunately, that occurred the day before she was going to pay him in butter, a rare commodity on the island, and, ironically, something desired by Hille.
Things take a dramatic turn on Amrum when Hitler's death is announced on the radio, news that so devastates Hille, she immediately goes into labor, giving birth to a baby girl but settling into a depression and refusing to eat. Ever the good son, Nanning immediately sets out to procure the three things she says are the only things she wants - white bread, butter and honey - and will come out of the experience a different human being, each item requiring multiple efforts, every one eye opening. It will be offering to work for his grandfather Arjan (Lars Jessen), Nanning's second reluctant participation in hunting the native wildlife, where he learns the truth about his parents' role in the fate of the uncle, Theo (Matthias Schweighofer), who gifted him a whales tooth knife in childhood before leaving for America. Arjan will also equate Hitler to Ahab. Nanning will lose his aunt's bicycle and almost his life crossing mudflats after the tide begins to come all to obtain sugar to barter for honey and the refugee children on the island rob him of another hard fought prize.
Then the war does indeed end and things change dramatically for Nanning's family. Hermann will try to get his friend to join the Amrumers' celebration, but Hille has already set the tone, turning away in disgust. Later, the boy will be shocked at what he finds in his uncle's house, then again witnessing his mother humiliated by the town butcher. The family has no choice but to pack up and return to Hamburg, Nanning's father having written from a British POW camp, but Nanning will end his stay on Amrum making a profound connection.
Akin, whose oeuvre usually focuses on the Turkish immigrant experience, embraces his mentor's memories as an adventurous, if extremely ideological, coming of age tale, coaxing a natural performance from his young star and creating a living, breathing community with his talented ensemble. The war is always felt, if not physically present, in his and Bohm's screenplay. Shooting on location, cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub ("Independence Day," TV's 'For All Mankind') uses big sky compositions, editor Andrew Bird ("In the Fade") emphasizing the island's beauty by cutting to nature close-ups.
Kino Lorber released "Amrum" in select theaters on 4/17/26. Click here for theaters and playdates.
It will be available on VOD on 6/2/26 and is coming to DVD on 6/30/2026.
