Children of the Sea

"Dad isn't with us anymore. I don't know why." "I've been suspended from almost every school because I was so bad." "My mom told me I had to pull myself together." These are all quotes from little Flemish boys who all have their own reasons for ending up at Ibis, a boarding school that was founded in 1906. Ibis has always prepared boys to work in the fishing industry. They learn to make their beds, salute when necessary, and are checked for personal hygiene with military precision. They are part of a mini-community that lives by very specific rules. These days, practices like standing in the corner, wearing sailor suits and walking white lines seem old-fashioned, but what worked decades ago might just work now as well. The film intersperses portraits of the boys with archive footage of the school many years ago, which greatly resembles how things happen these days. While we see school life in scenes from various lessons and poignant still lifes of the building, we also get the harrowing stories of the youngest students: their little voices in the voice-over, that exciting phone call home, or having to stay at school because mom's on vacation. Although the youngest have to get used to strict boarding school life, the growing self-confidence is already visible on the faces of the older boys.