Curt Bois

In director Wim Wenders' (Paris, Texas) most metaphysical work, a guardian angel desires nothing more than to be human. Presented in a stunning new restoration.

Nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film (1981), The Boat Is Full is a tense and heartbreaking drama that captures the plight of refugees during WWII. A ragtag band of exiles from Germany sneak into Switzerland seeking asylum. They are allowed to stay at an isolated inn as long as they pretend to be a family. In order to maintain this deception they must communicate with a young French-speaking boy, who cannot understand the rest of the German-speaking refugees. They must impress upon him the importance of remaining silent, or else their plan, and their lives, could fall apart. Director Markus Imhoof (More Than Honey, Eldorado) keeps tightening the suspense until the final breathtaking minutes. Pointedly relevant and nailbitingly tense, The Boat Is Full is a WWII film for the ages.

In 19th century Vienna, Johann "Schani" Strauss II (Fernand Gravey), son of the great composer, endeavors to realize his own talents. With the support of his girlfriend, Poldi (Luise Rainer), and the unexpected patronage of opera star Carla Donner, Schani gains enough success to marry Poldi, but avoids Carla's high society circles. Unexpectedly thrown together with Carla, however, Schani falls in love with her. When she commissions an opera from him, his career rises as his marriage crumbles.