Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "Das Boot ist voll" or "The Boat Is Full" is a 100-minute film from 1981, so it has its 35th anniversary this year. It is a collaboration between Switzerland, West Germany and Austria, so the main language in here is of course German. The director is Swiss filmmaker Markus Imhoof (recently successful with a documentary on bees) and he is also the one who came up with the screenplay by adapting Alfred A. Haesler's book. The only cast member I have heard of before I think is Tina Engel and this is also only the case because I recently watched her Christa Klages film (von Trotta). This film was not only Switzerland's official submission to the Oscars for the Foreign Language Film category, but it is also one of the most successful Swiss film as it actually managed to get the nomination, but lost to the Hungarian submission by István Szabó starring Klaus Maria Brandauer.But back to this movie here. It deals with the situation of immigration during World War II. As everybody with basic interest in politics knows, Switzerland was a neutral country all along and they chose the approach of saying that their boat is full which means it did not allow refugees or foreigners in general to enter and stay Switzerland without lots of bureaucracy going along with it. It was very difficult and this is also depicted in this movie here. The good thing is that it digs kinda deep in working on the Swiss history in the first half of the 20th century and it is not about making Switzerland look goo, but it is about depicting things the way they actually were, even if it may make Switzerland look not so good.All in all, I cannot say I recommend the watch a whole lot. The characters were actually somewhat interesting early on, but the longer the film went the less interesting the characters and everything around them became. This is always pretty disappointing for me as it is probably my favorite period in history and I find it really interesting to see new aspects about this time, like it is done here about Switzerland. As a whole, I have to say that the film did not bring anything new really to the table that could be interesting to audiences outside of Switzerland too. I have seen many World War II / Nazi Germany films and this one here delivers nothing that was not done already in other projects (frequently better). I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended. If you still want to see it, make sure you get subtitles. Even as a German native there are big parts that you won't understand otherwise because of the thick Swiss accent.

hasosch The anxiety of an attack from Hitler-Germany was real in Switzerland during WW II. Why should Hilter not integrate German-speaking Switzerland into his "Reich" to which already belonged Germany and Austria? After all, the "Grossdeutsches Reich" was based on the common language spoken, so Northern Switzerland was considered once lost from the "Grossreich" like Mussolini considered the Italian speaking parts of Southern Switzerland as "terre irridente". Why Hitler did not conquer Switzerland stays one of the big enigmas of history up to today.The Swiss population that lived close to the German border - in "Das Boot ist voll" it is Siblingen, Canton of Scaffusia - realized much more of what is going on on the other side of the river Rhein. Everyday immigrants crossed the Swiss border illegally. However, what did "illegal" mean in regard of immigrant-laws that had become criminal themselves? That the population must have reacted confused when it was confronted actually with a group of immigrants like the six persons in the movie, is clear. The wish to help them hide and feed them went along with the fear to be detected and to go to prison. The boat was not full, of course, and the title of the movie is cynically meant, but Switzerland did not want to provoke Germany by giving their Jewish population asylum.I think, films like "The Boat is Full" are necessary, but not because Switzerland had loaded more guilt upon herself than other states during WW II did. The opposite is true. But Switzerland had started to construct a very strange self-image of alleged neutrality and interwoven it with her history back to Wilhelm Tell which consists exclusively of fairy-tales. Middle-aged people like me still had to learn in school that a handful of Swiss soldiers defeated "the Habsburgian army" in "battles" whose names do not even occur in Austrian history and are not even to find in Swiss geographic maps.

Mort-31 This is a rather small movie, realistic, concentrating on its people. German and Austrian refugees come to Switzerland, find shelter at a countryhouse and experience that they are not really wanted there because the Swiss have their own problems yet they are not in war. It's a dense movie, with authentic actors and simple but convincing dialogues.The fact that it ends up not in one big but in some smaller singular tragedies is not particularly stressed; the true story the movie is based upon is told plainly, without cinematic flamboyance and therefore the movie gains a somewhat disturbing, unpleasant touch. Actually, this is the first Swiss World War II movie I've seen and it was interesting to get to know their point of view too. I recommend this.

Jonathan Doron Good span of characters, the movie lacks another storyline other than the couple hiding the refugees (and a little more, too little). It's too long for the little story it holds, while it does hint the characters have some more in them. Well acted, touching and haunting, is does light a different angle about Switzerland's neutrality- still being unraveled today in the news.