Feature film
The Boat Is Full
Das Boot ist voll
Markus Imhoof · 1981
Synopsis
Summer 1942. Six people escape from a German train crossing a remote corner of Switzerland: Judith, whose husband is interned in a Swiss camp, her brother Olaf, old Ostrowski and his granddaughter Gitty, little Maurice, a French orphan, and Karl Schneider, a German deserter. They find refuge with the Flückigers, innkeepers in a village, and pass themselves off as a family, believing that a family will be admitted. Constable Bigler, for his part, sticks to the orders from Bern.
Context
It comes from Alfred A. Häsler's book, published in 1967, on the Confederation's asylum policy between 1933 and 1945. The title takes up an image used by the federal councillor in charge of justice, Eduard von Steiger, in a speech of 30 August 1942, shortly after the circular of 13 August that closed the border. The film was produced by the director's own Limbo Film, with Swiss German, West German and Austrian television; Hans Liechti operated the camera, and Tina Engel, Curt Bois and Mathias Gnädinger appear in the cast.
Who it is for
One hundred and four minutes, in German and Swiss German. Better to know that the border had just been closed to those fleeing because of their race, and that the characters are unaware of it.
Prizes and reception
Silver Bear at Berlin in 1981, International Critics' Prize, and nominated in 1982 for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
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