A quiet film about the friendship between four people: an old skipper who has gone ashore but has not really adapted to his new life. A boy who has run away from his cold and identity-less concrete environment. And a young woman and a young man who have fled from their respective Eastern European countries.
Acting
Karl Stegger's gruff vulnerability steals every scene he's in.
Direction
Henning-Jensen lets silence do the heavy lifting.
Director
Bjarne Henning-Jensen
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Denmark's peak welfare-state cinema, reflecting 1970s Nordic anxiety about urban alienation and Cold War border tensions.
Stephan Schwartz was actually West German—his casting added unintentional authenticity to the 'escaped East' plot that Henning-Jensen never explicitly confirmed in interviews.
DK
US
