As the Tide Comes In

The 27 residents on the tiny Danish Wadden Sea island of Mandø are used to severe weather and flooding. But climate change and increasingly extreme weather now pose a serious threat to the eight-square-kilometer island. Its last farmer, Gregers, bravely faces the inevitable catastrophe. He refuses to build a life elsewhere and instead hopes to find a wife to manage the farm with him.

As a storm approaches, Gregers and his faithful dog inspect the decaying dykes that protect his beloved island. Meanwhile Mie celebrates her 100th birthday and Niels, an avid birdwatcher, laments the rare birds that don’t visit the island anymore. Tourists arrive in buses at low tide and hear from tour guide Preben how Mandø’s community was almost completely wiped out during a storm surge in 1634. Today, the current generation holds on steadfastly, despite the new threats from nature.

The portrait of this microcosm is accompanied by masterly shots of the distinctive landscape, shifting skies, and seas that change with the wind and tide. In a sense, the grim fate of these islanders, presented in drily comic situations, affects us all.