Der Schimmelreiter (1978)

Hauke Haien is an ambitious and determined young man with lofty goals. He marries the pretty, blonde daughter of the old dyke reeve, Tede Volkerts, who had inadvertently groomed him as his successor. When the old man dies, Hauke confidently takes up his inheritance and immediately develops grand plans. He plans to build a dyke unlike any that has come before. It is to be high and powerful, protecting the people living behind it forever from the raging floods of the North Sea. He intends to achieve this by designing the new dyke so that its seaward side slopes less steeply than before. But his bold and ingenious plans are met with neither approval nor enthusiasm. Hauke’s drive to get things done unsettles the inflexible Frisians of the village, whose greatest character flaw is their inertia. They are steeped in all manner of superstition and speculate that Hauke must be in league with the Devil. When the young dyke reeve also acquires a decrepit white horse, which he tends and nurtures until it becomes a noble and proud steed, the simple-minded villagers finally turn against him. To his misfortune, his wife Elke also gives birth to a daughter with an intellectual disability. Several events, interpreted as ominous portents, give rise to a rumor that a terrible disaster will soon befall the entire community. One day in October, a violent storm breaks out, lashing the high waves against the dyke. The dyke reeve mounts his white horse and rides to the dyke, which is in danger. Then disaster strikes him and his family: the old embankment gives way, and Hauke has to watch his wife and child drown in the floodwaters. He then rides his horse into the wet, raging death as well.