

User Score
6 votes
The German lightship (permanently anchored floating 'lighthouse') Borkum Riff is about to be decommissioned. For his last tour of duty, Captain Johann Freytag brings along his near-adult, estranged son Fred. The ship picks up three men stranded in a broken-down boat--who are armed. The captain tries to avoid trouble, but the crew, his son, and the trio of violent robbers on the run keep rejecting his nonviolent advice, which leads to repeated bloodshed.
Director
Writer
Status
Released
Original Language
DE

Living in rural Texas is a dysfunctional family: an abusive dad, a Vietnam vet with a war wound that's left him impotent; a compliant wife and a son of about 20, two small sons who look a lot like their brother. The dad harbors a secret, and he goes to murderous lengths to keep it hidden. The young man, Jimmy, who has suspicions, but little comes out until a Yankee woman comes to town.

Fred
A teenage boy is sent to a juvenile reform facility in the wilderness. As we learn about the tragic events that sent him there, his struggle becomes one for survival with the inmates, counselors, and the retired war colonel in charge.