Før Stormen / As the Tide Comes In

Only 27 people still live on the tiny Danish island of Mandø. The road that links the island to the mainland can only be driven at low tide, and the residents are used to living in sync with the constant interplay of wind and water. But rising sea levels, increasingly frequent storms, and other manifestations of climate change worry them. The farmer Gregers stoically shakes off the thought that the place where his family has lived for generations might soon be unliveable. Instead he hopes to find a partner on the Danish version of $Farmer Wants a Wife%. Mie, the oldest inhabitant of the island, celebrates first her 99th, then her 100th birthday. Busloads of tourists come and go; there are portents of a big storm on the way. Will the dykes hold and keep the water back?
This documentary cautiously takes the audience on a trip to the island, visiting the austere living rooms and the windy beaches. We get a glimpse into a world where time seems to have stood still, and where people accept the vagaries of nature as their destiny.