Amrum, 1945

April 1945. On the remote German Wadden Island of Amrum, there is great scarcity in the final weeks of the war. Twelve-year-old Nanning is forced to take on the role of ‘man of the house’ and does everything he can to provide food for his heavily pregnant mother, his younger brother and sister, and his aunt. Despite the hardships, life on the rugged, windy island sometimes feels almost like a paradise. But when peace finally arrives, Nanning is confronted with his parents' Nazi convictions and the tensions with others on the island. After thriller-like films such as ‘Gegen Die Wand’ and ‘Aus Dem Nichts’, director Fatih Akin makes a more subdued coming-of-age drama, based on the childhood memories of screenwriter Hark Bohm. Akin also mentioned Stand By Me by Rob Reiner as one of the great sources of inspiration for this film. Without much embellishment and with a sober visual style, ‘Amrum 1945’ asks the pertinent question of whether youth has a chance at an innocent future in a place where the swastika flag still waves proudly. Despite being set in WWII, it is clearly also applicable to our current times. For child actor Jasper Billerbeck, it is his debut role, and he immediately makes an indelible impression.