Ship of Fools

The Spanish countess La Condesa is deported from Cuba to a Spanish prison in Tenerife and boards the ship under police escort. The ship's medical officer, Dr. Schumann, takes a special interest in her. 600 field workers in steerage cheer as she sails away, signaling the tension aboard the vessel.

The Condesa confides to Dr. Schumann about seeing impoverished conditions endured by thousands of laborers, explaining her motives. She manipulates the doctor to obtain opiate drugs, but her activism aligns with his humanitarian ideals. Their sympathy grows into a fragile love, even as both realize the situation is hopeless and the doctor hides a heart condition.

Selected passengers are invited to dine at the captain's table each night, where Rieber's anti-Jewish rants unsettle some and amuse others. Lizzi admires him for his vitality and mind, while the captain seems reassured that the Nazi party will not be taken seriously. Jews and a dwarf are excluded from the table, but the Hutten’s dog, Baby, is allowed.

Baby is thrown overboard by children from steerage, and a laborer drowns attempting the rescue despite the doctor's ministrations. The Hutten family fusses over the dog, oblivious that the rescuer has died. The event underscores the moral complexity of life aboard the ship.

The Jewish Lowenthal sits at a side table with the dwarf Glocken, and the two bond over their social exclusion. Lowenthal discusses the Nazi party and its anti-Jewish sentiment, hoping Jews have been good for Germany, while Glocken remains pessimistic. Freytag is later moved to this table.

Rieber moves Freytag to the same side table after learning his wife is Jewish. Freytag discloses that he is separated from his Jewish wife due to pressure from his family and his employer. He reveals his Iron Cross from World War I, deepening the debate about German identity.

The American artist couple David and Jenny share a passionate but turbulent relationship. David is convinced his art will always come first, while Jenny resents having to compete with his ambitions. They fear a life defined by endless fighting unless one compromises.

Passengers are entertained nightly by a troupe of flamenco musicians and dancers, whose leader pimps the women in the troupe. Johann, an unpaid caregiver to his invalid uncle, is attracted to one of the dancers and loses his virginity after paying. The episode reveals the power dynamics and economic coercion shaping relationships aboard.

Mary Treadwell, a divorced fading beauty, dismisses the lieutenant who shows interest, first as duty to unattended women, then as insignificant. When Bill Tenny sits at her table, he pesters a flamenco dancer and later uses her cabin number to pursue Mrs. Treadwell. In a drunken moment, Tenny barges into the cabin, mistaken for a prostitute, and Mary hits him and ejects him.

The ship arrives in Tenerife and the deported workers disembark. The Condesa is escorted off the vessel under Civil Guard protection, and the captain tells the doctor that she is not worth his anguish. The doctor angrily rebukes him, claiming she acted against injustice while they merely follow orders.

Ignoring the captain's warning, the doctor remains emotionally overwhelmed and dies of a heart attack soon after the Tenerife confrontation. His death underscores the human cost of the voyage and the clash of ideals aboard the ship.

Upon arrival in Bremerhaven, the doctor's body is unloaded in a coffin, attended by his estranged wife and sons. The passengers descend back into their ordinary lives as the voyage concludes and the ship returns to routine.

The last passenger to leave the ship is Glocken, who breaks the fourth wall and says, 'What has all this to do with us?...Nothing,' then chuckles and walks off. The moment underscores the film's meditation on moral culpability and audience complicity.